Chapter 2

A couple of months had passed since Cassandra had requested to begin working a job in Hogsmeade. Dumbledore approved her request and they got her a position as a waitress at the Three Broomsticks, she was working at the bar giving an order she had just taken to the bartender when one of her coworkers approached her, "Cassie, a man is requesting you."

She sighed nodding grabbing her quill and notepad, "Where?"

"Back booth."

She headed for the back booth, she was proud of herself to be working and creating her own independence. She approached the booth, "Good afternoon, sir. May I…" she looked up from her notepad as she jotted down the table number, "Father," she was surprised.

"Cassandra," he looked at her with his dark brown eyes that appeared almost black, "Sit now," he commanded

She placed the notepad and quill in her apron pocket, "Is everything alright, father?" she asked as she sat down across from him.

He eyed her watching her as if she were his prey about to be killed, "No, everything is certainly not alright," his voice was stern.

"Have I done something wrong?"

"You have a job," he put emphasis on the word job, "We do not have jobs," he looked at the tables around them then his voice dropped to a whisper, "We serve Him."

She looked down at her hands that rested on the table then back at her father, "I do not wish to serve him," her voice shook as she spoke, she had never expressed her feelings towards her father.

He grabbed her wrist tightly that his fingernails dug into his skin, "You do not have a choice!" he raised his voice this caused the room to grow quiet and look in their direction. He quickly removed his hand and she placed her hands in her lap away from view. Everyone returned to their meals and drinks when they realized that it appeared to simply be a father getting onto his daughter. He sat back, "If you insist on working then I will get you a job within the Ministry of Magic for once you graduate but you will continue to serve Him."

Her voice shaking, she said, "And…if I say no?"

"You are done," he said with zero emotion just staring her down with his cold, dark eyes.

His stare sent shivers down her spine, "I do not need your money."

"You stupid girl. You will be done and he will be sure of it. I will not have you ruin our family just because you want to be wrong."

She nodded, "Fine…I will continue to serve Him."

"Good girl. I will make some calls," he stood up and grabbed his coat, "Goodbye Cassandra."

She did not even look at him, "Goodbye father," she said as he walked away. Once he left, she went to Madame Rosmerta, "May I…" she could not even get her words out.

Madame Rosmerta could tell that Cassandra was in distress, "Yes, you may sweetie. Here…" she gave her a butterbeer to go.

"Thank you," she took it then left. She entered Hogwarts and returned to the Slytherin common room finding the room empty except for Severus, who was reading in a chair by the window.

He looked up to see who had entered the room, "Cass," he smiled then saw the sad look upon her face, "What's wrong?"

She walked over to him and he closed his book to give her his attention, "I tried…I tried, and failed. I wanted to leave their control," she started crying, "I want to be free but I will never be free."

"Cassie, you will be. They do not control you."

"He threatened to kill me if I do not follow in his ways. Nothing I do is good enough."

Severus shook his head, "I am sorry…how about we go work on developing our potion skills better?"

She looked at him, "You are amazing at potions why do you need to practice more?"

"Practice makes perfect."

She gave a small chuckle then nodded, "Alright. Let me grab my book," she went to her dorm room. Her dorm was private from the others in her house due to her being Head Girl for Slytherin house. After getting her book she returned to Severus who was waiting for her by the door, "Let's go."

He nodded and they went to the potions classroom where they discovered Professor Slughorn who was dabbling with his potion-making. Slughorn looked up as they entered the room, "Cassie. Severus. Good afternoon, I was just dabbling on some potion-making."

Cassandra stepped closer to Slughorn's workstation with Severus close behind her, "We wanted to try and perfect some potions ourselves."

"You are both excellent potion makers but feel free to work on your skill."

She nodded then looked at the different potions he was making, "What are you working on?"

He looked down at the potions then back at her, "Would either of you like to take a guess?"

Cassandra looked at Severus, "Give it a try."

"Alright," she stepped closer to the table, "This one is veritaserum…it is a truth-telling serum."

"Very good, Cassie. And the others?"

She went over to the second one and peered into the cauldron, "Amortentia…this is a love potion. Strongest love potion in the world, it is extremely difficult to make. It will appear to have a different smell to whoever smells it. The smell will represent the person you are most attracted to."

"What do you smell?"

She smelled it then was quiet still looking into the cauldron before looking up at Slughorn and Severus, "I smell books, the outdoors, and the flower…"

"What flower?" Slughorn asked

"Periwinkle," she stepped back from the table not looking at Severus. The periwinkle flower was a special connection she shared with him. That was how the two first truly met, they knew of each other for being in the same year and house but never actually spoke until one day when they were both spotted a periwinkle flower during the walk into Hogsmeade one weekend. She had stopped to admire it while Ann and Patrick continued their walk into Hogsmeade and Severus stopped to collect it to use it for potion making that is when they started discussing the flower. Over time they slowly became closer and now spent a majority of their time together, "Sev, your turn. What do you smell?" she asked without looking at him

He looked at her feeling unsure how he felt about her smelling a periwinkle flower since he knew that meant she had feelings for him. He nervously stepped forward, "Um…I smell honey, the library, and…lily flowers," he said his final smell very quickly then moved onto the next potion that Slughorn had, "Shall I name this one?"

"Certainly," he motioned for him to continue.

He examined the small bottle then looked up at Slughorn, "Felix Felicis."

"Very good, Severus. This is commonly known as…Cassie?" he looked in her direction.

"Liquid luck."

"Precisely! When the user drinks this potion, it will give them luck for a period of time," he looked at the two of them, "Well I will let you two work on your potion-making," he proceeded to clean up his materials.

Cassandra glanced at Severus attempting to act normal, "Shall we?"

He simply nodded and they went to the tables, "Which potion would you like to work on?"

She opened her potion book looking over each potion, "Does not matter to me."

"I think I will make this one," he pointed to one in his textbook.

She took notice of the small notes written in his book, "You have a lot of specific notes in yours."

"It helps to be more detailed when potion-making."

"Of course, it does. The smallest mistake could ruin the potion."

He nodded in agreement, "I actually call myself a different name in this book so that whoever may receive this book after me will not know it originally belonged to me."

"Why go by a different name? What is wrong with Severus Snape?"

"No one takes me seriously. I am a joke."

She shook her head, "Not everyone. I take you very seriously."

He glanced in her direction then up at the front of the classroom just as Slughorn went into his office, "Cass…can I ask you something?" he wanted to bring up why she smelt the periwinkle flower.

She froze in what she was doing, she did now want to bring up this topic. She was more than happy to avoid it but she decided to get it over with, "Yes?"

At the last minute, he changed his mind and decided not to proceed with questioning her about the flower, "Are you still going to continue working in Hogsmeade each weekend?"

She sighed in relief then looked at him, "I do not know. I actually do enjoy working. I feel I have a true purpose now instead of being the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Europe. I know I mentioned I do not want my parents' help especially how they treat me and I do not want my family's name to get me a job at the ministry but at the same time I would at least have a decent job and could work my way further up into the ministry by my own personal work ethic. My work is my own doing not my parents. They may get me in the door but it is up to me to make sure I do the work that is expected of me."

"So…yes?" he was unsure where she was going with that.

"Yes…I will accept my father's help in this instance," she did not want to reveal that it came with the cost of becoming a death eater since she was unsure of where Severus' feelings about the death eaters lied.

He nodded, "Well good if that is what you truly want then I support you fully."

"Same for you. Your next adventure following Hogwarts I will support you fully."

"And this Cassie is why I will never leave you."

"And this is why I…" she wanted to say she loved him but changed her mind, "why I think of you as my best friend…forever?"

"Forever and always," he smiled at her then they both returned to their potion-making.