Chapter 1

The Rice family were a very wealthy pureblooded family, they had two daughters: Cassandra and Victoria. It was clear to their youngest, Cassandra, that they favored her older sister more. They may both have been placed in Slytherin house and throughout their schooling both made excellent grades, they favored Victoria more due to fact she had the personality and shared the same values as her parents in believing that purebloods were more superior than any others. Cassandra was described by most as being the picture of perfect she was beautiful, smart, and had a kind heart despite being in Slytherin house. She had pale skin with chocolate brown hair and dark brown eyes.

It was March 1978 and the Easter Holiday Break had come to an end much to Cassandra's enjoyment, she despised being home due to how she was treated by her family and their close friends. She tried to not return home for any of the breaks this year, but her parents insisted she come home otherwise it would look bad on their family's image for not having both of their daughters at home for the holidays. With the Easter holiday finally over she stood on the platform at King's Cross with one of her family's house elves, no one else had come to send her off. She looked down at the house elf, Juniper, with a sigh then at all the other families around her all hugging and saying goodbye to their children. "Thank you for assisting me to the platform today, Juniper."

Juniper looked at her, "Of course, ma'am."

"If you could just take my trunk to be loaded into the luggage compartment, I would greatly appreciate it," she did not approve of her family owning house elves and true to her nature she treated them with as equal kindness as she would treat anyone.

"Certainly, ma'am. Will that be all?"

She looked at the other families then Juniper, "Yes. That will be all. Goodbye Juniper take care of yourself and…tell my parents and Victoria goodbye for me."

The house elf nodded and looked at Cassandra sadly, "It does no good to give your family any attention they give you none," a girl said approaching them.

"Ann," Cassandra smiled hugging her as Juniper took this as her moment to walk off and drop off the trunk. Ann was Cassandra's best friend; they met their first year at Hogwarts on the train when they were both looking for seats and although they were in separate houses this did not stop them from remaining friends. Ann was an orphan who was introduced to Hogwarts early by Dumbledore himself after her parents were killed in a house fire by a death eater two years before their first year at Hogwarts. With Dumbledore's assistance she found a wizarding family to foster her until the summer before their seventh year when her boyfriend's family decided to let her start living with them due to her foster family being an older couple who had never had children of their own before. "You mentioned in your last letter you had exciting news?"

"Oh, yes!" she put out her left hand and there was a beautiful large diamond on her ring finger.

"Patrick proposed?!"

"Yes!" she said and they started squealing together just as Patrick approached them.

"I guess Ann shared the news."

"Yes! This is wonderful! I am very happy for the two of you," Cassandra smiled at them, "We need to show Lily!"

Ann nodded excitedly, "Darling would you find us a compartment, please?"

"Of course. You ladies have fun," he gave Ann a kiss on the cheek then boarded the express as the two young witches ran off to find Lily Evans.

"Lily!" they said excitedly.

"Ann…Cassie what is with all the commotion?"

"Patrick proposed!" the two said in unison then started giggling.

"He did not! Ann that is wonderful! Let me see!" Lily said getting excited as Ann showed her the ring, "Ann! It is beautiful!"

She looked at the ring smiling, "Thank you. It was his grandmother's."

Lily sighed happily as the whistle blew for a final boarding, "I am so happy for you two. You must tell me more later. See you at the feast," Lily walked off with James and his friends.

Cassandra had gotten close with Lily the previous year when she was dated Sirius for a little bit. They did not work out but agreed to remain friends. Their relationship although did not work romantically blossomed plenty of new friendships for Cassandra who had usually spent her time at Hogwarts quite lonely only spending time with Ann and Patrick, the only Slytherin who would speak to her was Severus Snape due to them being basically in the same boat no one in their house would speak them and with them both being in the same year they studied and interacted a lot with one another. Especially this past year Cassandra had developed a crush on Severus, she never had this attraction before until he had a falling out with Lily due to him accidentally calling her a mudblood ending their friendship and Ann had also become closer with Patrick. The entire train ride to Hogwarts all the girls no matter the year or house were obsessing over the fact that Ann was engaged, not many Slytherins cared but some seemed to have an interest mainly due to Patrick's parents being from a line of money and being a pureblooded family. Once they arrived at Hogwarts, they boarded the carriages, "Are you coming?" Ann asked as they entered the school and she noticed that Cassandra had paused in the middle of the courtyard.

"Yeah…I just not ready to leave this place. We only have a few months left before we have to say goodbye."

Ann sighed then approached her, "We are never saying goodbye to one another. We are still going to be the best of friends, you will be my maid of honor in my wedding, we will raise our children together. We are never saying goodbye."

She looked at her friend, "It is not just you. I do not want to return to my parents' control. I want to develop my own life and here I have that. They want me marry me off to someone like they did Victoria. I do not want to be a piece of property. This is my life and I would like to have control of it."

"You could continue your education afterwards?"

"With what money? I live off of my parents still…they do not love me. They used to until I developed opinions of my own now, they wish I would just disappear. They only require I return home because they do not want it to affect the family's image."

"I know…I wish there was something we could do. Perhaps talk to Dumbledore or McGonagall about getting a job and earning your own money. You may not earn much by the time we graduate but you will have some then you will have the experience to go somewhere else and get another job and afford to further your education. You could even perhaps use your family's name and get a job within the ministry. I have heard they do not even really require experience they more will just accept your family's name and give a decent job just because your family is well known. Look at Lucius Malfoy he received an excellent job within the ministry just for having a well-known family name."

Cassandra nodded, "I will talk to McGonagall about getting a job in Hogsmeade."

"You are Head Girl for Slytherin House, too. I am sure she will allow you to."

"Let's hope." They walked into the Great Hall and went their separate ways to be with their own houses for dinner, "Hi Severus," she said softly taking a seat next to him.

He was reading a book when she approached him, he looked in her direction pushing back his long black hair, "Hello Cassie."

"What are you reading?" she asked glancing at the pages of his book, "are you studying? We just got back."

"I never left remember."

She nodded, "I wish I had not. The entire break was entirely boring and giving my sister all the attention. She got married last summer and apparently, she is trying to have a baby."

He looked at her, "They do not deserve you. You do nothing but try to please them. One day you will need to stop and focus on pleasing yourself."

"You sound like Ann…I want my own life I do but I simply cannot. My life has been planned out since my birth, my parents simply just want me gone and married off to the highest bidder. It is what happened with Victoria. Those of us that are 'wealthy purebloods' do not marry for love we marry for alliances or those that are apart of…." She looked around then dropped to a whisper, "Lord Voldemort's followers then he can decide where you are placed."

"Cassie…"

"Can we please drop it?"

He nodded as returned to his book unsure what to say now. She simply sat there in silence placing her head on her hands, "I am going to speak to McGonagall," she said suddenly and stood up walking towards the professor tables.

"Ms. Rice," McGonagall said as Cassandra approached her, "is everything alright?"

"I was hoping you could help assist me. I would like to get a job in Hogsmeade."

"A job? I do not understand."

Cassandra sighed looked at her feet collecting her words then looked back at her, "I would like a job. I no longer wish to be under the control of my parents once I leave here. I cannot survive on my own without money and after I graduate here in June, I will have two options remain under their control or leave but be homeless unless I start earning money."

McGonagall knew how badly Cassandra struggled in her family and saw how badly she was pleading for help, "I will speak to Dumbledore about this and if he approves then we can get you a job. If he does not approve then I can help get some assistance once you leave here in order for you to create your own independence."

She nodded, "I appreciate the help," she said then returned to her seat.

"How did it go?" Severus asked when she sat down.

"I am still basically in the same position as I was. She claims she will help but I do not believe it."

"Sorry," he said unsure how to help her feel better he did not handle emotions well but this was also a difficult position there was nothing anyone could do to truly help her. After a moment and once everyone was seated, Dumbledore welcomed them back and announced the feast. When the feast concluded everyone headed to their common rooms, "Cass?"

"Hmm?" she asked looking at him.

"You will be fine. I will never let anything happen to you."

She smiled kindly at him, "Thank you, Sev. I know you would never let anyone or anything hurt me. I appreciate you so much."

She stopped walking which made him pause in steps, "Why did you stop?" he asked just as she gave him a hug it took him a moment then he hugged her back.

"No matter what happens we will always have each other," she let go and looked him in the eyes.

"Always," he told her then they continued their walk to the Slytherin common room.