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The Last of the Marauders
chapter 4
Explanations and Life Sentences
"Ok, I'll give her a chance, but I don't know if she'll be able to keep my trust."
Harry, Ron and Hermione went back downstairs and to Cassandra's door. They knocked and Remus answered. "Hello." he said, then allowed them inside. They crammed into the room, then Remus said, "I don't need to hear you past again Grim, I lived through it, I'll see you later." he then left. "I think we'd better go to." said Ron, walking back towards the door. "No, you can stay. I'd rather you hear it now then get it garbled from other people. Besides, if I'm going to have to relive it, I'd rather do it once. Please, sit." she said. They looked around the small room. There were no chairs, and she took up most of the space on her bed. "Oops, not quite enough room. Room extendo." She flicked her wand, and the room seemed to grow a bit. She then flicked her wand and three armchairs appeared. She then transfigured her bed into an armchair as well. "Wow. I thought only Dumbledore could do that. McGongall made us wood chairs last year." said Ron. "Yeah, because you were in trouble I suspect, she made us those chairs all of the time." mused Cassandra, now sitting cross legged on the edge of her bed. "Now, I'd rather not have to speak an autobiography, so you three just ask me questions." said Cassandra. She hadn't been looking forward to this part, but she wanted them to understand her situation. "OK. Remus said you and I are alike. Why?" asked Harry. "That's an easy one unfortunately. We're both orphans, we never knew our parents, and we keep losing those close to us. There are also prophecies about us both. Oh, and Voldemort wants me dead as well." said Cassandra. "Why?" "Why? I was in the Order. Do you realize how many of his pitiful minions I killed? I would have killed Lucius had it not been for, well, the circumstances, which you three already know about." "Ok, my turn. Remus said that you hadn't had a good life and lots of bad things happened to you. What was he talking about?" asked Hermione, "That is, if you don't mind!" she added. "No, it's alright Hermione, you guys have a right to know. And Fred, George, Ginny, please unplug those things in your ears and just come inside. I'd rather you not eavesdrop and just ask me." she said. The door opened and the three smiled sheepishly. Cassandra went through the same process of spells and so the six kids waited to be told of Cassandra's misfortunes. "Well, I suppose I'll start where it all began. When I was 14, I wasn't exactly the most modest of people in my dressing, if you understand what I mean. Many boys from my own year as well as boys in the years below and above me tended to ask me out, and we always went through the same process. The boys got their name, house and year, then decided if they were worthy. Well, after their O.W.L.S, since they were a year ahead of me, there was a Hogsmeade trip. That morning, your father and your godfather thought it would be funny to soak me and my bed to the bone in ice cold water. Yeah, they knew how to get into the girl's dormitories and no, I'm not telling you. So then, I went into the boys dorm and beat Sirius up for it, then stole one of his shirts to wear. I put it on in front of them, don't get any ideas you two," she added, looking at Fred and George, who's eyes had lit up. "Dear little Peter told them I had a metal stick in my stomach, so they ran and made me show them-""You have a belly button ring? Let's see then." said George. Cassandra sighed then lifted her top a little over her stomach revealing the ring with the snitch in it, which she always wore. "Cool." said Ginny. "Yes, anyways, so I, again, dressed a bit inappropriately and this guy named Jack Stower asked me out. He was a 5th year Ravenclaw. They said I could go, but then Sirius and I got into a row and I stormed out of the hall. I went with the guy alone and he led me into the forest. Then he put a silencing charm on me and left me to be raped by none other than your favorite person in the freaking world-""Lucius Malfoy?" asked Hermione incredulously. "Yep. Splendid, isn't it? After that, everyone thought that I was sleeping with Jack, Sirius, a Slytherin named Demery Zabini and this guy from Hufflepuff named Daniel Fin-Fletchy. I believe that Demery and Daniel have sons in your year, Harry, Hermione and Ron." The three nodded. "Everyone called me the slut of Hogwarts and after another row with Sirius, I decided my life wasn't worth squat and tried to commit suicide. I tried jumping from the astronomy tower." "You WHAT?!" cried Harry. "You heard me, but after I jumped, Sirius caught me with a levitation spell and when I landed I said I hated him and I ran to the Room of Requirement. It was Remus who found me, but while I was in there, I had a vision about these things to come. I envisioned the three of you being taught by Remus, and I saw Sirius...." "So what, are you a seer?" asked Ginny. "Yuck no. I'm no Trelawny kids. Yeah I know who she is, never taught me though thankfully. I have psychic powers, I have visions sometimes, but no prophecies for me thank you very much. After that, Sirius and I had, surprise, yet another row and ended up making out and from that point on we were a couple. That summer was when Sirius ran away from his home, and I stayed about 6 weeks at your dad's house. Though it wasn't that big of a deal, I lived right down the street from him. It was a two minute walk from my house to his. In 5th year, everyone stopped with the slut nonsense, since I threatened I would hex anyone I heard whispering about me into oblivion, no threats, only promises. I tried out for quidditch that year, made it, took my owls, got 12 of them, and started training to be an auror in my sixth year. After seventh year, I graduated top of my class and went to train in the auror office. I was in my third year of training when I left. And there you go. That's all the crap that happened to me. Oh yeah! And Snivellus once put a curse on me to make my hair purple, but I don't think he realized I quite enjoyed the spell..." "You played quidditch?" asked Harry. "Who said anything about playED? I still play! My neighborhood back in the US has a quidditch league, but it's local, so we don't do the world cup." "Who d'you play for? What position?" asked Ron. "I play for the NYC Comets. And no, we don't play on comets. I believe the captain has a Firebolt. I myself have a Nightwalker." "What's that?" asked Harry. "It's a purple broom with a silver streak on the back." answered Cassandra. "And I play seeker, but I'm a mean chaser as well. What about you guys?" "I play seeker as well." said Harry. "No quidditch for me, I'm content being a bystander." said Hermione. "I play keeper." said Ron. "Chaser." said Ginny. "And we play beaters." finished Fred and George. "Charlie plays seeker too. Bill's a chaser." said Ginny. "And if we could get Hermione to play, we could have a fair match. One beater for each team, one chaser, one keeper, one seeker each team and a ref. Fred, Ginny, Ron, Harry on one and George, Bill, Hermione and Charlie on the other, I could ref." suggested Cassandra. "Nah, I can ref, you should play Cas, it'd be good for you to be up in the air." said Hermione. "OK, someone go get Bill and Charlie. We'll see if they are interested." said Cassandra. Ginny rushed out of the room and returned a few minutes later with the two oldest Weasley boys. "So boys, interested in a little match of quidditch?" asked Cassandra. "Ok sure." said Bill. "Sounds brilliant." agreed Charlie.
20 minutes later, the nine of them stood in the Weasley's backyard with their brooms, Hermione had decided to just watch as usual, but keep score. "Mount your brooms!" called Cassandra. When they all had, Hermione said, "Uh, GO!" Cassandra giggled, then kicked off. For a snitch, she had enlarged her belly button ring and charmed it to fly. It now zoomed around with a small metal ring on the back. The game ended sadly fast. Bill and Ginny were amazing chasers, and Charlie and Harry were neck and neck the entire time, even when Harry did a Wronski Feint, which earned a cheer from Cassandra. Unfortunately, Cassandra's keeping skills were dismal and Ron's had improved greatly. Cassandra's team only lost by 60 points, because Charlie managed to snatch the snitch from behind Harry. "Hey, can I see that right quick?" asked Cassandra. She walked over and took her stomach ornament. She mounted her broom again and then set the snitch free. She shot into the air and her eyes searched rapidly through the field. She saw it immediately. It was hovering near a gnome. She leaned forward and the broom shot forward. She reached out her arm and grabbed - "Why'd she take that gnome?" asked Ron, watching her progress through his omnoculars. Cassandra threw the gnome onto the snitch and it grasped on for its life. Now all she had to do was follow the gnome. She spotted it again, right in front of Hermione's book. From her position 50 feet in the air, she dove straight down and grabbed the gnome and snitch from right in front of Hermione, then touched down. Everyone applauded. "That was amazing." said Harry. "I doubt any better than you though Harry, with a bit more practice. I'd hoped you would be an amazing flyer, your father was, as was your godfather....." she trailed off. "So were you on the house team?" asked Hermione. "I sure was. Your dad was captain when I tried out though Harry, so the other people trying out for seeker thought I had gotten the placing because I was one of the captain's best friends and his co-captain's girlfriend. Well, the Slytherins did anyway until we pulverized them. James was a great chaser. Sirius was a great beater. That was one of the things we did during Summers. In fact, before the Summer of my 5th year, I had never even played quidditch. I knew how to fly, but I didn't play quidditch, just went to matches." said Cassandra. "Really? Why didn't you play quidditch? You must've been really good to get on the team when you had only been playing a little while." said Harry. "Well, Harry, you never played quidditch and YOU made the team." pointed out Hermione. "Yeah, but I was 11. She was 14." Harry replied. "My foster parents weren't the nicest of people. Mind you, I never had to sleep in a broom closet, but they thought I was trash and treated me as such, since I am a muggle born. I didn't have any other family. To tell you the truth, I don't even know how or why, they died. I would rather live with someone I hated who knew my parents and could tell me at least SOMETHING about them, rather than just the people who I did live with, whom I just loathed. I believe Lucius killed them when they didn't want to become death eaters." she recalled. "That's terrible!" said Hermione. "No, not really. Once, Orion beat me within an inch of my life, as I'm sure Vernon Dursley has threatened to do to you. That was when I was 16. I ran away after that, and the Potters let me camp out there too." she said casually. "How can you say that so leisurely? That is absolutely awful." said Hermione. "Yeah, but I learned to deal with it over time. You kind of get used to the pain after a while when you are constantly fighting death eaters and Voldemort. Well, I did anyway. When I fought, I just went numb, but the cruciatus never gets any better. Anyone who knew the Longbottoms can tell you that." she said solemly. Everyone nodded. "Well, I'm going to go inside now, we can continue the discussion after we've all changed, because, we're a bloody awful sight." said Cassandra, then shrunk her snitch ring, stuck it back in, and walked back up towards the house. The rest of them followed.
Cassandra went into her room and closed the door. She felt really grungy and used a quick cleaning spell on herself. She immediately felt refreshed and changed out of her clothing into a black halter top and her black gym pants. She tied her hair up in a messy bun, then opened the door. "Hello Remus." she said brightly. "Hello. So, been telling them about the past?" he asked, walking in. "But of course. I'm surprised you haven't already." she said. "Yeah, I would've, but I really didn't want to relive it. I don't have that shell like you do." he said. "What's the matter with you Remus?" she asked. "Nothing's the matter, just making a statement." he said, still using a mean tone. "Listen, I'm not in the mood for games right now Remus." she said angrily, trying to step around him. "But were you not just outside playing one?" he asked. "Shut up and move." she said, now quite angry. What was wrong with him? He NEVER acted like this. "Nah, don't think I will." he said nastily, remaining in front of her. "Fine. Petrificus Totalus." Instantly, he was frozen. "What the hell?" asked Remus, walking down the staircase. "Huh?" asked Cassandra, looking down at the frozen Remus, then back at the Remus walking towards her. "Who's that?" he asked. "I dunno. I think he's on polyjuice, but we'll have to wait and find out. He was pretty convincing with your voice though, pretty scary." she admitted. "Hey! What's happened in here?" asked Molly, walking towards the both of them from the kitchen area. Cassandra stepped aside. "Goodness! Is that Remus?" she asked. "Nope. I'm real Remus, this is some ass on polyjuice."
After everyone had come down and seen fake Remus, Cassandra performed the enlargement charm on her room and Bill and Charlie helped her conjure chairs. She tranfigured her bed again, then said. "Ok, ask me questions again, because I really have no clue what to tell the eight of you." she admitted, and turning to Harry said, "And no more angry questions please!" He grinned and nodded, "Sorry 'bout that. But, can you tell me what my grandparents were like? The only people I've ever heard speak of them were you and Sirius." he said. "Your grandparents were wonderful people as well. Brian and Lois were always the nicest people, they let James get away with anything and EVERYTHING. Trust me, I know. Dan and Sharen were really kind of overprotective about Lily though. They weren't mean about it like her idiotic sister, but they thought it was stupendous. And as such, they wanted to preserve her, for fear once Voldemort showed up on the scene and Lily wanted to fight against him. They thought James was a brute for encouraging her to. Don't see the point though, considering your mother fought the dark arts anyways." "What do you mean they let Harry's dad get away with anything?" asked Ron. "Well, hm, where should I begin? We threw parties over there, did all sorts of things, well um, yeah, you get it." "Right..........So what was your favorite class?" asked Hermione. "Hm, I really like charms. Yeah, I'd say charms." "Why? You were in the Order and snuffed all those death eaters, you must've loved defense against the dark arts!" sad Ron. "Yeah, I did like defense against the dark arts, but charms are dead useful for pranking." said Cassandra. At this, Fred and George cheered. "Right troublemakers you two are I'd suspect. The interference charm on those-""Extendable ears." said George promptly. "Extendable ears is quite good. Its actually quite advanced." she said. They grinned. "Took us a bit to figure it out." they admitted. "So, are you an animagus?" asked Ron. "Nope, sorry." she said. Remus looked at her confusedly, then his eyes gleamed with understandment. She couldn't very well say she was an animagus with a potential death eater in the room. "Was Peter always-"began Harry. "Obnoxious, dense, a follower? All that and much more. Never liked the guy too too much myself, but I still trusted him." Cassandra said angrily. "Now, the hour is just about up, and we'll see who this guy is, so be prepared, ok?" she said, taking out her wand. "Ready, here we go!" she said as the hour struck. Harry had seen a de-transformation before. When he was in his fourth year, Barty Crouch Jr. Had masqueraded as Mad Eyed Moody. This time, the Remus impersonator got thinner and more curvy. They looked down at a pretty woman with dark brown hair. "What should we do with her?" asked Harry. "Well, not Azkaban, she'll be free in a day. Hm, don't want to kill her. (Hermione shrieked.) I don't know. Any suggestions anyone?" she asked. "Hm. Hows about that new prison? I'll pop her there myself." said Remus. "Stratatum stundos." he said. The woman vanished with a POP. "Now, I minor correction on what I told you a few minutes ago. I AM an animagus, but I didn't want to say it with little miss minion lying a few feet away with her master probably listening to every word I said." she said. They nodded in understanding. "AND, as for what I turn into....." Cassandra morphed into her animagus form. She still loved prancing about, being a baby fox. "Aww, she's so cute. Cuter than usual, well no, nevermind." said George. The minuscule fox's eyes narrowed and she went over and bit George in the leg. Then she ran and bit Remus as well. She then went back to her own chair and morphed back, her hands on her hips. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" the two men cried. "Well George, for your snide little comment and you conveniently FORGOT to tell him Remus, that I can still hear him when I am in my fox form." "Will you ever forgive us?" asked Remus, batting his eyes. "OH no. THIS is a life sentence buddy."