Chapter One: Counting Stars
I feel something so right
Doing the wrong thing
And I feel something so wrong
Doing the right thing
~ Counting Stars, OneRepublic
A/N: Welcome all! A quick recap: this is a direct sequel to my Marauder era fic, Decadence. Although you don't have to have read that one first, this will make more sense if you do. The main character, Cassiopeia Rosier, is the daughter of Evan Rosier and Phoenix Black. Although the story mainly focuses on her, there will be plenty of Phoenix and Beth content upcoming for those who like them!
Please be aware this is also a Fred Weasley/OC, but as this story begins in Cass's third year and she is only 13, there is going to be a fair amount of growing and other romantic entanglements before she ultimately ends up with Fred.
"This is boring." Cassiopeia Rosier exhaled a frustrated breath, sweeping her blonde hair from her eyes as she followed her parents and brother through Diagon Alley. "Can't I just go and meet Lisa and Michael?"
At thirteen years old and soon to start her third year at Hogwarts, Cass thought she was definitely old enough to be spending time in Diagon Alley with her friends rather than her family. Unfortunately, since her younger brother Orion Lupin had recently turned eleven, he was starting his first year and so all of the attention was on him. Cass didn't mind if that was what her parents wanted to do, but why did she have to?
Technically speaking, Orion was her half-brother, since Remus wasn't Cass's biological dad. Since Cass had only been a baby when her father Evan Rosier had died, Remus was her dad in every way that counted. She and Orion were close in age and so for the most part they got on, but she really couldn't stand the absolute doting her parents were doing.
"I thought you'd at least want to be with Orion when he gets his wand." Phoenix Black, Cass's mother, raised her eyebrows at her daughter's utter boredom. At thirty-two, she was often referred to as 'glamorous' by Cass's peers, though she'd almost boxed Terry Boot's ears when he'd called Phoenix 'fit'. Sure, her mum dressed well and she was pretty, but she was also Cass's mum.
"We won't be much longer." Remus Lupin, their dad, would also be going to Hogwarts this year. He was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. He was only a year older than Phoenix, but had a more mild manner about him. Lisa Turpin, one of her Muggle-born friends, said he was like a librarian.
"Hope not," Cass mumbled mutinously, shoving a wad of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum into her mouth as they headed into Ollivander's Wand Shop.
"Whoa!" Orion's eyes, green like Remus's, widened in delight as he examined the rows upon rows of wands within the store.
Cass leaned against one of the shelves, chewing at her gum. She was with her family still but she didn't exactly have to participate. This was Orion's moment, not hers. She didn't resent the kid, but she wished that she could be at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with her friends instead. Phoenix glanced at her and sighed heavily.
"Alright, you can go and meet your friends."
"Yes!" Cass crowed, pumping her fist in delight. She swooped over and kissed her mum's cheek. "I'll be back at the Leaky Cauldron for three o'clock."
The streets of Diagon Alley were familiar enough for Cass, and she traipsed through them and headed for the brightly-coloured entrance of the ice cream parlour. Michael and Lisa were sitting outside, and Lisa raised her hand in greeting as Cass approached. She was thrilled to see that they'd already bought her a choc-chip sundae, and she sank into the spare seat with a delighted grin.
"Have I ever told you lot that you're the best?"
"Not as often as you should," Lisa teased. She was dark-haired with milk-pale skin, sharp grey eyes and a side shave. That last one was new, and Cass suspected she must have done it over the holidays.
"Have you heard all this about Sirius Black?" Michael leaned forward, brown eyes sparkling as he almost sank his elbow into his peppermint sundae. "Apparently, he escaped from Azkaban. Can you believe it?"
"Michael, you insensitive git." Lisa elbowed him sharply in the ribs, making him yelp in pain. "You know that's Cass's uncle, right?"
"Oh, yeah." Michael scratched his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Cass."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Doesn't bother me."
Cass had seen the 'wanted' posters all over the place these past few weeks. Sirius was her mum's older brother, and he wasn't someone she talked much about. The same could be said for Cass's biological dad, Evan. Phoenix took care to avoid mentioning him, which vexed Cass to no end. She only knew the facts that the Ministry had disclosed: Evan had been killed fighting Aurors rather than fleeing. Cass had only been a few months old at the time.
"Your family's so interesting." Michael looked almost wistful as he twirled his spoon through his green ice-cream.
"You want a mass murderer for an uncle and a dead Death Eater dad? Be my guest." Cass's tone was wry, lacking any real irritation. It was true that she had an interesting background, but it was all because of her family. Cass had been raised completely normally, with loving parents and an often annoying younger brother.
"Bets on what house Orion will get sorted into?" Lisa grinned and leaned forward. The three of them were, out of the group of Ravenclaws in their year, renowned for their tendency to make bets about anything and everything.
"Definitely not Gryffindor." Michael shook his head fervently. "The kid's great, but he's quiet as a mouse."
"I'm going to say Ravenclaw," Lisa said, "One Sickle."
"Hufflepuff," Cass chimed in, truly having no idea what house Orion might be in but happy to play along with their usual game.
"Oh, does that leave me with Slytherin?" Michael sighed dramatically. "I mean, the silence could be sinister. Who knows what he's planning in that adorable little head of his? It could be something truly devious."
"Phoenix was Slytherin, and she's not half bad," Lisa pointed out. Her parents were both Muggles, earning the sneers and cruel commentary from many of their Slytherin peers. Lisa honestly couldn't have given less of a shit. Michael himself was half-blood, with a Muggle-born father and a half-blood mother.
"I think my parents were both in Hufflepuff," he said.
"Alrights, bets in." Lisa flicked her dark hair over her shoulder. "Let's see who's right, shall we?"
Cass was always a bundle of nerves and excitement the night before she was due to return to Hogwarts. This time would be different, since Remus was coming along to teach. She thought it might be a bit weird, though she'd get used to it. Heated murmurs from downstairs drew Cass's attention, and like the nosy creature she was, she tiptoed over to her bedroom door and inched it open.
"...don't care how many years it's been, I still don't think he did it." Phoenix's voice, low and urgent. As Cass crept across the landing to peer down the stairs, she could see her parents in the living room. Remus was sitting on the couch, while Phoenix was pacing back and forth, arms folded.
"Nix." Remus sounded exhausted, raking his fingers through his sandy brown hair. "There's too much evidence that points to his guilt. Don't you think, if he was innocent, the first place that Sirius would have come would be to us?"
Cass clamped a hand over her mouth, sitting down quietly so that she could listen further. They were talking about Sirius Black. Phoenix didn't talk much about her brothers, though Cass knew enough of her mother's history to know it was a sad one. A dead twin, an imprisoned older brother. Everyone had suffered during the First Wizarding War, but Phoenix seemed to have suffered a lot.
"Of course he wouldn't." Phoenix's voice was clipped. "He would know you think he's guilty."
There had always been tension between Cass's parents about the fate of Sirius, and now she was starting to understand why. Remus, like almost everyone else, believed that Sirius was guilty of the crimes he'd committed. The murders of twelve Muggles and his former best friend, Peter Pettigrew. Phoenix, on the other hand, seemed adamant about Sirius's innocence.
"He told me that he didn't do it." Phoenix's voice cracked. "I believe him, even if I'm the only one in the world who does."
Sirius had been arrested right after Voldemort fell, when Cass had been little more than a baby and Phoenix had still been pregnant with Orion. Sirius had betrayed the trust of his, Peter and Remus's best friend James Potter. It had been because of Sirius that James and his wife, Lily, had been killed. Or so they had all been told.
Harry, James and Lily's son, was in the same year as Cass, though he was in Gryffindor. He had been the one to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets the previous year, putting an end to the Basilisk that had slithered through the halls and Petrified a number of students. A real school hero, as if anyone could have expected differently of a child who had survived Voldemort's Killing Curse at only a year old.
"We need to think about the children." Remus said, making Cass bristle as she always did when she was referred to as a kid. She was thirteen years old now, Merlin's beard. "It's not going to do them any good for us to investigate whether or not a wanted fugitive is innocent or guilty."
"You need to watch out for them." Phoenix's voice was soft as she spun on her heel to look at Remus. "At Hogwarts. No matter what this hunt for Sirius leads to, they need to be kept safe."
"Of course, Phoenix." Remus eased himself to his feet, walking over to take her face in his hands. He was over six feet tall, but there was a gentleness to him that defied what he was: a werewolf. Cass and Orion had grown up knowing exactly what their father was, never judging him for his nature. There was a little of the wolf in Orion, too: his irritation around the full moon, maybe the way he scoffed down food as well.
"I worry about her, Remus. There's so much of him in her and I've tried to ignore it, but I can't."
Cass stiffened as she realised that Phoenix was talking about Evan, about her. The only thing she had of her father was a moving photo of her parents. She caught her breath and listened carefully to what her parents said next.
"But there's so much of you in her, too." Remus smoothed Phoenix's hair back from her face. When Remus went to Hogwarts, Phoenix would return to her own job: a mediwitch at St Mungo's.
"I was so surprised that she wasn't sorted into Slytherin. I guess I thought, with two Slytherin parents, what chance did she have?"
"Slytherins aren't all bad." There was a hint of amusement in Remus's voice. "You aren't bad, Nix. You have been a brilliant mother, to both of our children."
Remus had never treated Cass any differently, despite the fact that she wasn't biologically his. He loved her as much as he did Orion, and Cass loved him as much as she did Phoenix, sometimes even more. That didn't stop some small, traitorous part of her from wondering what her life would be like if Evan Rosier had survived the war.
Easing herself up in silence, Cass crept back into her room and inched the door closed. Once it clicked shut, she pressed her forehead against it and sucked in a deep breath. It took a few moments for her to move across and open the top drawer beside her bed and pull out the only piece of her father she had.
Cass turned the picture over in trembling fingers. Her parents, in their late teens or early twenties. Her mother, stunningly pretty with sleek dark hair. Her father, blonde with striking features. Phoenix was smiling and holding a tiny baby that Cass knew must be her at a few weeks old.
Those fucking smiles. Behind them was pain. Cass could see it in Phoenix's eyes, the tension in Evan's shoulders. They were so young and already so damaged. The picture must have been taken just before her father had been killed. Her cruel Death Eater father, who had loved Cass more than anything else in the world.
She looked like him. They had the same blonde hair, the same sharp cheekbones and angular features, though her eyes were hazel and her skin wasn't quite as fair as his. Phoenix was right—most of the other children of Death Eaters, like Draco Malfoy, had been sorted into Slytherin. Would she still have become a Ravenclaw, she thought, if she'd been raised with Evan as a father instead of Remus?
Cass's hands shook as she jammed the photo back into the drawer and slammed it closed. What was the point in dwelling what might have been? Phoenix never spoke about Evan, and Cass would never know him. He only existed in photos now, in the faintest memories of a man who picked her up and spun her around and kissed her cheek, and even those she wasn't sure if she'd merely conjured up in her mind.
"Scram!" Lisa elbowed her way past a second-year Slytherin boy as she and Cass made their way down the train, looking for an empty compartment to claim. She shook her head slowly, rolling her eyes as the boy sneered. "Honestly. The attitude on them. If Orion is sorted into Slytherin, I'm disowning him."
"We've all agreed that Slytherins aren't all bad," Cass declared, practically throwing herself into a free compartment. Although Remus would also be taking the train to school, she wasn't that much of a dork that she was going to sit with her dad. She'd leave that to Orion, who had examined the Hogwarts Express with the resolute expression of someone going off to war.
"Where's the pipsqueak?" Terry Boot, a fellow third-year Ravenclaw, stuck his head into the compartment. He stumbled forward and Cass realised he'd been pushed by Anthony Goldstein, who headed in behind him with a grin.
"You think I'm letting my little brother tag along with me the whole trip to Hogwarts?"
"Not the whole trip." Padma Patil sprawled on the seat, scowling when Anthony spread himself out beside her. "Oh, move up, will you?"
"Why are you asking about Orion?" Cass mock pouted as Michael joined them, shutting the door behind them so no one else tried to shove into their compartment. "I'm right here."
The train lurched into motion, and when the trolley came around, the group bought as many sweets as they could and divided them up. The escape of Sirius Black was the gossip of the summer, though Cass tried to distract herself by sorting through the cards for the Chocolate Frogs. As the afternoon bled into evening, Cass was thrown off her seat and across onto Lisa when the train suddenly jerked to an abrupt halt.
"If you want to sit in my lap, you could say," Lisa joked, but a frown contorted her features as she cast around, peering outside the window, "We aren't even there yet. Why have we stopped?"
Anthony got up and yanked open the compartment door, sticking his head out to have a look around. When he turned back to face the others, the lights suddenly went out, making Padma gasp and press a hand to her heart.
"There's something out there."
A hooded figure shadowed the compartment door, and Cass backed into Michael. She recognised the creature from the stories her parents had told her: a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. But what was one of them doing on the train. The windows iced up as though it was cold, and Cass could see her breath fogging out in front of her.
"Cass." Michael cowered behind her, gripping her arms as if trying to use her as a human shield. "What the bloody hell is going on?"
The Dementor didn't seem to find whatever it was searching for, moving past their compartment without opening the door. Lisa was shivering violently, rubbing her arms. The others likewise had expressions of alarm and concern on their faces as the Dementor moved on. Michael finally released, who sank down onto the seat with her knees shaking.
After a few moments, the lights flickered back on, and the train lurched into motion once again. Terry, who had gone rather pale, groaned and pressed his face into his hands. He looked up at the others, sucking in a deep breath and letting out a low whistle.
"I need to see if Zacharias has a little pick-me-up after that."
He left the compartment without a backward glance. Cass knew he was referring to Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff in their year who was known to provide what Terry helpfully called 'happy herbs' for a small price. Cass didn't usually partake, but even she agreed that she could use a little something after what had just happened.
"Do you reckon they thought Sirius Black was on the train?" Padma's eyes were wide.
"Well, you know what they say." Anthony shrugged his shoulders. "If he betrayed the Potters, maybe he's planning to finish the job."
Cass was grateful for their arrival at Hogwarts, her stomach rumbling as she thought of the feast that would be waiting for them. Last year she hadn't paid much attention to the sorting, but this year since Orion was one of the first-years, she craned her neck from her place at the Ravenclaw table with her friends, waiting impatiently as they worked alphabetically through the list.
"Lupin, Orion."
Cass gave her brother an encouraging smile as he walked up to sit on the stool, his expression fearful. Maybe he would be a Slytherin, as Phoenix had once suspected Cass would be. Gryffindor was possible, considering Remus had once been one, though unlikely. At the teachers' table, Remus watched his son with patient interest.
Orion screwed his eyes shut as the hat was placed on his head. Cass's sorting had taken a little while, although not long enough for her to be considered a hatstall. After several moments, the Sorting Hat made its decision.
"Ravenclaw!"
Delight coursed through Cass as her brother scuttled over to the table to join them. Though she wouldn't have minded what house Orion went to, she was pleased to have another family member in hers. Anthony and Terry made a fuss of shaking his hand and clapping him on the back as he sat down at the table.
"Attaboy, Orion!"
"You're one of us now."
There was a relieved smile across Orion's face, his green eyes bright with happiness. Cass didn't know what house he'd been anticipating, but it was clear that he didn't think Ravenclaw was so bad. She reached over and took his hand in hers, squeezing lightly.
"Welcome to the nerd herd, baby brother."
Lisa smirked across at Michael and Cass. "Pay up."
Michael groaned, and Orion's eyes widened as he cast between them. There was no betrayal in his expression, merely curiosity, as he clearly wondered which of them had betted on what house.
"You placed bets on me?"
"When do they not place bets?" Padma asked, shaking her head slowly.
The resort of the sorting went by without incident, and Orion was joined by several other equally small eleven-year-olds who looked wide-eyed and awestruck to be part of the Ravenclaw crowd. Professor Dumbledore stood up to make a speech before they could all dig into dinner, causing the Great Hall to lapse into silence.
"Now, I'd like to say a few words before you're all befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor Remus Lupin, who's kindly consented to fill the post of the Defence Against Dark Arts teacher. Good luck, professor."
Remus stood and smiled a little at the applause, through which Cass couldn't help but whistle and yell 'yeah, dad' to the amusement of her peers. Even Orion, nerves settling after his sorting, smiled slightly. Hagrid was announced at the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, which was a bit more of a surprise to Cass, though she'd always found him good-natured.
"Finally, on a more disquieting note, at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban, until such a time as Sirius Black is captured."
Cass's cheeks burned as she felt dozens of eyes flick to her. Her heritage was no secret at Hogwarts. While there were many other pure-blood students who had Death Eater relatives, not many of them also had a relative who was a mass-murderer.
"The Dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now, whilst I've been assured that their presence will not interrupt our day-to-day activities, a word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures. They will not distinguish between the one they hunt, and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving."
"Hey, Rosier." Malfoy leaned across from the Slytherin table, an annoying smug smile on his lips. Apparently, his mother Narcissa was one of Phoenix's favourite cousins. She had also been Evan's cousin on the other side of the family (which was more than a little weird to Cass, but okay). Unfortunately, Malfoy himself was utterly insufferable.
"If you've got Q and A about the Dementors, best to ask Dumbledore." Cass flipped her honey blonde hair over her shoulder. "Being related to Sirius doesn't mean I'm an expert on all things Azkaban."
"Father says your blood traitor mother was the last person Black saw before he went to Azkaban. Reckon he'd go for a family reunion?"
Unease prickled up Cass's spine, but she brushed it off, maintaining an air of cold indifference.
"Don't know. He's your mum's cousin, maybe he'll send her some flowers."
Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed. "Can't believe they'd allow someone like your step-father to teach here. This place really does just keep getting worse."
"My dad," Cass said through clenched teeth, "Could probably start on a thing or two about manners with you."
"Ignore him, Cass." Lisa gripped her shoulder and turned her back to face the table.
"Better listen to your Mudblood friend, Rosier." Malfoy's taunting made her want to punch him, but she restrained the urge regardless of the insult to Lisa. He'd been throwing the word around since he'd discovered her Muggle-born heritage, but she'd always brushed him off as though she didn't care.
Dementors at Hogwarts? It was a concern. Cass's gaze flicked over to the Gryffindor, to Harry Potter and his friends. Was it true that maybe Sirius was after Harry, and he might come to Hogwarts to finish the job? Cass thought about what Malfoy had said, about Phoenix being the last person Sirius had seen. If they thought Sirius might come to Hogwarts, maybe there would be a family reunion after all.