The Difference One Choice Makes
2nd September 1994
"Mr Potter" said Professor Severus Snape.
Edward who was talking with Myranda, Cassiopeia and their friends about the Tri-Wizard Tournament from their place at the Slytherin table looked up to see his Head Of House looking down at him with a stack of parchment timetables in one hand and his wand in the other.
"Professor" said Edward politely.
"Subjects?" said Professor Snape.
"DADA, Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, History Of Magic, Astronomy and Duelling" said Edward politely.
The Magical Duelling class was a recent addition to the Newt curriculum at Hogwarts having been introduced four years ago and was proving to be a popular class for Newt students as nearly all of them chose to take it.
Professor Snape had a look of approval on his face as he tapped one of the parchment sheets with his wand before handing it to him.
"Your History Of Magic lesson will be starting in fifteen minutes… don't be late" said Professor Snape.
Edward nodded his thanks to Professor Snape who turned to Myranda.
"Miss Vaisey?" said Professor Snape.
"DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions and Duelling" said Myranda.
"Only five subjects… I expected more from you" said Professor Snape sternly.
He tapped her timetable with his wand.
"I suggest you use your free period before Potions to study then" said Professor Snape handing Myranda her timetable.
"Miss Malfoy?" continued Professor Snape, turning to Cassiopeia who straightened up.
"DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Duelling" said Cassiopeia politely.
She nodded her thanks to Professor Snape when he handed her timetable to her.
Fifteen minutes later…
Edward walked into the History Of Magic classroom finding it to be rather warm and welcoming compared to the cold, depressing classroom it was under Professor Binns.
When he arrived outside of the classroom he was slightly surprised to see that the class was rather small with Andrea Farley joining him from Slytherin along with half a dozen boys and girls from the other three Houses.
"Sit down please" said the soft voice of Professor Lily Snape who had opted for a professional-looking blouse and dark skirt while most of her hair was clipped back behind her head.
She was against the desk at the end of the classroom twirling her wand in both hands as a piece of chalk was writing instructions on the large blackboard to her right.
Once all of the students had sat down, she stood up and started walking in between the tables.
"Since Hogwarts has the privilege of hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament this year… I thought we'd start the year by learning a little bit about this famous tournament" said Professor Snape.
She pointed her wand at the stack of small books on her desk causing them to hand themselves out to her students.
"I'll give you half an hour to read the first four chapters… then we'll have a little discussion about what you read" said Professor Snape as Edward picked up the book handed to him which was titled "The Tri-Wizard Tournament: A Complete History" by Aurelius Fleamont.
Professor Snape rested against the edge of her desk once again as she watched her first class of the year read through the books in silence.
5th September 1994
Jennifer and Melissa Karasu took their seats in the DADA classroom which they were sharing with the Fourth Year Gryffindors this year.
Ever since it had been announced that famed retired Auror Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, Jennifer had been looking forwards to learning from him having met him once when he was invited to dinner by her Parents.
Not that he made a good impression at dinner, by refusing to have the food or drink served to him, choosing to eat his own food and drink instead, which had not gone down well with her Mother.
Professor Moody was stood at the base of the steps leading up to his office watching all of them as they entered the room with his magical eye casting over each student with a vigilant look on his face.
As Jennifer placed her books on the table she heard the gruff voice of Professor Moody call out to the class.
"Books away for now please, but you need your quills and parchment!"
Jennifer put her books back in her bag and pulled some parchment along with her quill and an inkpot.
The rest of the students followed suit as Professor Moody walked over to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk.
Once everyone had their quills and parchment ready he gave a small approving nod.
"Alastor Moody" said Professor Moody.
He turned to face the blackboard and started writing his name.
"Ex Auror, Ministry malcontent… and your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, I'm here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye the end… any questions?" said Professor Moody looking around the room.
No one dared to speak up.
His magical eye shifted between the students as he limped past the desks.
"You see when it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach, I want you to see exactly what you're up against, even some of the particularly nasty stuff… now, which of you can tell me, how many Unforgivable Curses there are?" said Professor Moody turning back to the board and writing "UNFORGIVABLE CURSES" on it.
"Three sir" said Hermione.
"And they are so named?" said Professor Moody still looking at the blackboard.
"Because they are Unforgivable, and the use of any one of them will" said Hermione nervously.
"Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban, correct" said Professor Moody before spinning around.
Jennifer and some of the others flinched as Professor Moody slammed his hand on Michael Corner and Terry Boot's desk.
"Now the Ministry thinks your too young to see what these curses do, I say different, you need to know what you're up against, you need to be prepared... and to be prepared you need to see exactly what these curses do" said Professor Moody turning back to the blackboard.
His magical eye whizzed around until it faced the inside of his head.
"You need to find another place to stick your gum beside the underside of your desk Mr Finnegan" said Professor Moody.
Seamus Finnegan who was sticking a piece of Droobles gum to the bottom of his desk froze in shock before turning to some of the Gryffindors who were sat near him.
"No way... the old codger can see out of the back of his head" muttered Seamus.
Moody spun around and threw the chalk at Seamus causing him to duck as it sailed over his head.
"And hear across classrooms!" shouted Professor Moody.
The entire class jumped slightly.
Professor Moody clapped his hands together.
"Now, which curse shall we see first?" said Professor Moody.
Professor Moody looked at Ron with his magical eye.
"Weasley!" said Professor Moody in a sharp voice.
Ron who was sat with Josh Sloper quickly looked at Professor Moody.
"Yes" said Ron in a panicked voice.
"Stand up" said Professor Moody.
Ron gulped and slowly got to his feet as Professor Moody limped over to him.
"Give us a curse son" said Professor Moody.
Ron swallowed.
"Well, my Dad did tell me about one… the Imperious Curse" said Ron nervously.
"Yeah, yeah, your Father would know all about that, gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief some years ago… perhaps I should show you why" said Professor Moody.
He limped towards the blackboard as the entire class fell into an uncomfortable silence.
Professor Moody limped past the blackboard towards a pile of glass jars that sat on the windowsill.
Some of the students leaned forwards slightly as Professor Moody reached into one of the jars and pulled something out
Professor Moody pointed his wand at whatever was in his hand.
"Engorgio… Imperio" said Professor Moody.
He spun around and levitated a fist-sized black spider as if it was held by a piece of string over to Jennifer's desk causing her and Melissa to recoil slightly.
Gasps of shock could be heard around the classroom as Professor Moody levitated the spider from desk to desk though he kept it from actually touching any of the students even if it was millimetres away from them.
"Total control, I can make it do anything I want, even throw itself out the window… or drown itself" said Professor Moody as he levitated the spider into the glass window before holding it in place millimetres above a bucket of water.
He levitated the spider back into his free hand.
"Let's have another… how about you Potter, your Parents were Aurors so you should know one of these curses" said Professor Moody.
Harry who was sat next to Neville a few desks away from the front turned to look at Professor Moody who was watching him with a look of great expectation on his battered face.
"The Cruciatus Curse" said Harry nervously, dreading what Professor Moody was about to do.
Professor Moody nodded.
"Yes, yes... the Torture Curse, knew you would know that one… anyone who was raised by Aurors knows exactly what this curse is" said Professor Moody.
Harry looked down at his desk feeling a few stares from people who did not know what the Cruciatus Curse was on the back of his head.
"We'll need something a little larger for this, Engorgio" said Professor Moody dropping the spider onto Harry's desk.
He enlarged the spider until it was the size of a muggle football.
"Now watch closely… Crucio" said Professor Moody.
The spider suddenly started contorting in pain and started squealing painfully.
Harry felt very uncomfortable at what Professor Moody was doing as did everyone else in the class and they were all willing for their DADA Professor to just stop with his demonstration.
After a good twenty seconds, Professor Moody cancelled the spell and levitated the spider back into his hand.
He remained silent for another few seconds before turning to Hermione who looked uncomfortable under his gaze.
"Would you like to name the last Unforgivable Curse Miss Granger?" said Professor Moody in a calmer voice as he placed the spider on her desk.
Hermione swallowed and nodded.
"Avada Kedavra" whispered Hermione.
Professor Moody nodded and sharply pointed his wand at the spider.
"Avada Kedavra" said Professor Moody viciously.
The entire class gasped and some even turned pale as a green light shot out of Professor Moody's wand and hit the spider killing it instantly.
Professor Moody brushed it off the desk.
"The Killing Curse, there's no blocking it, your only hope is that your quick enough to dodge it, it has killed many people over the years… as far as we know, no one has ever survived it" said Professor Moody.
He limped back towards the blackboard.
"Now to cast any one of those curses to their full power requires complete control and a high amount of anger and hatred, if you all pointed your wand at me and simply said Avada Kedavra, I doubt it would do anything besides giving me a simple nosebleed, the Unforgivable Curses require hatred you see, constant vigilance, you need to hate your target… well, why aren't you writing this down?" said Professor Moody.
The scratching of quills suddenly began to be heard around the room.
28th September 1994
Breathing deeply, a long brown-haired, pale-skinned Witch in her early forties watched as Lucius and Ursula Malfoy walked out of the famed Borgin And Burkes shop in the centre of the seedy Knockturn Alley which was not as busy this time of night as it was during the day.
Drawing a wand from the sleeve of her black dress the Witch emerged from the dark alleyway and followed the Malfoy's up the alley watching for any chance they might be alone.
After another minute the Malfoy's entered a part of the alley which was deserted.
"Avada Kedavra" said the Witch with venom in her quiet voice raising her wand at Ursula's back.
Hearing the voice behind them, both Lucius and Ursula turned around moments before the sickly green Killing Curse hit Ursula in the chest knocking her to the floor as her life was extinguished before she had the chance to fight back.
Lucius immediately drew his wand but it was too late for him to do anything as the Witch silently disarmed him with a simple wave of her wand.
He dove down immediately and went to get Ursula's wand, feeling immense anger and slight sadness at the sight of his dead wife but the Witch summoned both Malfoy's wands to her free hand.
Lucius, now in full panic mode scrambled backwards towards the wall as the Witch moved towards him keeping her wand pointed at him.
"Please, I'll do anything, please just let me go" pleaded Lucius in panic.
As the Witch got closer Lucius looked right into her eyes and immediately he knew who she was.
"No… no, it can't be you" said Lucius in shock and fear.
As she approached, the Witch used her wand to place some quick wards on the alley as well as waving away the magical enchantments she had placed on her own body.
Lucius got even more scared as her long brown hair turned black and went from neat and straight to curly and frizzy.
"I should've known that you wouldn't care for Cassie as much as you should've done, as much as I care for her" said Bellatrix angrily as she kept her wand pointed at Lucius's chest.
"I never mistreated her, I always looked after her and cared for her" pleaded Lucius who knew that unless someone showed up to help him, then he was going to die.
"You neglected her, took another wife and had more children… you raised them properly and pushed Cassie into the background" snarled Bellatrix.
"That's not true" pleaded Lucius.
"You made sure I was left to rot in Azkaban, you should have been there with me" snarled Bellatrix.
Lucius backed up against the wall as a few people in the alley ran into Bellatrix's wards noticing that something was wrong.
"You'll never get away, you'll be captured and killed by the morning" said Lucius.
Bellatrix tightened her grip on her wand and looked down at him with pure hate on her pale face.
"I'm prepared to die… but not before you… Avada Kedavra!" snarled Bellatrix.
Lucius was too scared to move as the Killing Curse left Bellatrix's wand and slammed into his chest ending his life at the age of 41, by the hand of his ex-wife Bellatrix Black.
Bellatrix, still breathing heavily lowered her wand and looked back down the alley where she saw that her wards had been destroyed.
She quickly dropped the three wands, pulled a small phial of clear liquid out of her cleavage and uncorked it.
"I love you… my beautiful Cassiopeia" said Bellatrix sadly.
She raised the phial to her lips.
"Forgive me" thought Bellatrix as she drank the contents of the phial without hesitation.
By the time the two Wizards who broke through her wards ran towards them, Bellatrix dropped to the ground with her life slowly fading away.
29th September 1994
Cassiopeia walked into Professor Severus Snape's office finding her brothers Lucan and Corvus already sat down with the former having a bored look on his face while a slightly regretful Lily Snape was stood behind the desk with an envelope in her hand.
The fact that it was very early in the morning, at least an hour before they would go down to the Great Hall for breakfast was evident in the appearance of Lily Snape who was in her dressing gown and slippers.
"What's going on?" said Cassiopeia warily as Severus Snape closed the door behind them.
Lily sighed and nodded her head towards the empty chair in front of the desk.
"You might want to sit down Miss Malfoy" said Lily regretfully.
"Has something happened?" said Cassiopeia feeling a sense of dread as she sat down in the seat offered to her.
Lily looked over to Severus who placed some silencing wards on the office door with a regretful look on his face.
"Yes… this concerns your parents" said Severus regretfully.
With that he walked back over to the now orphaned Malfoy children and told them the full story of what had happened to Lucius and Ursula, ending the story by telling Cassiopeia of her Mother's suicide by the poison called Belladonna.
The reactions of the three children were so severe that Lucan and Corvus had to be removed from the office after they had threatened Cassiopeia to punish her for what Bellatrix had done to their parents.
After Severus took the Malfoy boys out of his office Lily placed a supportive hand on a slightly tearful Cassiopeia's shoulder.
"Madam Black found this on your Mother… it has your name on it" said Lily softly.
Cassiopeia kept her gaze on her lap as she took the envelope from Lily.
"I don't know what to feel… both my parents are dead, with one losing his life at the hands of the other" said Cassiopeia with a mixture of sadness and emptiness in her voice.
Lily squeezed her shoulder.
"How do you think you should feel?" said Lily softly.
Cassiopeia let out a breath she did not know she was holding in.
"I love my Father, but he wasn't a very nice person… and I never felt anything but hate for his wife, but I hate that Lucan and Corvus have lost both of their parents, just as I have" said Cassiopeia sadly.
Lily sighed and stroked her shoulder before kneeling down next to her.
"And your mother?" said Lily softly.
Cassiopeia looked into the green eyes of the wife of her Head Of House and wiped a few tears from her own eyes.
"I want to hate her, really hate her for taking my Father from me… but I couldn't hate her when we were reunited in the Forbidden Forest, and even after what she has done I can't bring myself to hate her" said Cassiopeia with a bitter tone to her voice.
She stayed there for what felt like an hour before finally walking back to the Slytherin Dormitory to get dressed for the day.
1st October 1994
A still sombre looking Cassiopeia opened the envelope that had been delivered to her by a screech owl she recognised as Nymphadora's owl.
As she opened the envelope and pulled the letter out she knew that it was most likely an invitation to come and live with her older Cousin.
Lucan and Corvus had been taken in by their Uncle Ambrose Lestrange and Cassiopeia was relieved when the horrible Lord Lestrange refused to take her in by saying that she was not his responsibility and was not welcome in his house.
After several seconds, Cassiopeia finally decided to read the letter and a small smile formed on her lips.
Hey Cassie
Your favourite cousin here, I got my new flat last month and lucky for both of us, it has a spare room. If you want to go and stay with anyone other than me I'd understand. But I was really hoping that you would take me up on my offer of the spare room.
You know staying with me would be miles better than staying with anyone else so you might as well say yes. My new flat is Number 22E, Bishops Way, Bethnal Green, it's not connected to the floo just yet so just address any letters to me and this address and your owl will find me.
Tonks
Cassiopeia folded the letter up and placed it in her bookbag, before pulling some parchment, her quill and an inkpot to write her reply, telling her Cousin that she would love to come and live with her.
Cassiopeia finished the letter by signing it with "Cassiopeia Black", having written to Orion Black yesterday, asking him to arrange for her to abandon the Malfoy name and take her Mother's maiden name of Black as soon as possible.
Once the letter had been finished Cassiopeia folded it up and placed it in her bookbag along with her quill and inkpot before finishing her breakfast and going to her Transfiguration class.
31st October 1994
Jennifer was stood in a line with the rest of the Ravenclaw Fourth Years in the castle grounds near the Quidditch Pitch, waiting for the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to arrive.
Dumbledore was stood in front of all the students watching the skies with a smile on his face.
"What's taking them so long?" said Rose Snape.
"No idea" said the 14-year-old, long black haired Indian descent, Padma Patil.
"How do you think they are getting here?" said Dylan Davies.
"The Durmstrang students will be arriving by ship I think… I heard that's how they usually travel to their school" said Melissa Karasu.
Nothing happened for the next few minutes before various students began to point to the sky and excited gasps and comments could be heard.
"Look, up there in the sky" said Rose pointing at the sky.
Jennifer and the others looked at where she was pointing and gasped in surprise to see something quite large fly out of the clouds towards the castle.
"It's a dragon" said one Student.
"No you idiot, it's a house" said another Student.
The second Student was almost right.
The object flying towards the castle was a carriage shaped like a small French palace. It was being pulled through the air by six white Winged Abraxan Horses.
"That's the Beauxbatons Students" said the 14-year-old, long brown-haired Lisa Turpin.
"Wicked" said the 15-year-old, short black haired Anthony Goldstein in amazement.
As the carriage started to land near them several students turned towards the lake pointing at something.
The rest of the students looked out at the Black Lake where to their surprise a large dark brown wooden ship emerged from the depths.
"These foreign schools certainly know how to show off" said Talbot Desford as the ship sailed towards the shore.
They turned their attention back to the carriage as it performed a surprisingly graceful landing in front of them.
They watched in anticipation as a young blonde-haired man got down from the front of the carriage and opened the carriage door and steps.
He then took the extremely large hand of the biggest woman Jennifer had ever seen and helped her out of the carriage.
She stood at nearly nine feet tall with high heeled feet almost as big as a child's sled.
She had medium-length, shiny red-brown hair and was dressed in a dark red fur coat.
"Blimey, that's one big woman" said the stunned voice of Seamus Finnegan from the crowd.
Several boys and girls aged seventeen to eighteen climbed out of the carriage after the Woman.
They were all dressed in sky blue/grey robes with shawls and blue bowler like hats.
The 14-year-old, short blonde haired Terry Boot wolf-whistled.
"Who'd have thought it… hot French girls at Hogwarts" said Terry, voice laced with approval.
Some of the boys chuckled while Jennifer and some of the other girls groaned as the Woman led the students over to Dumbledore.
"Welcome Madame Maxime, I trust your journey was pleasant" said Dumbledore in his grandfather voice.
"It was pleasant enough Professor Dumbly-dorr" said Madame Maxime in a heavy French accent as Dumbledore kissed her knuckles.
Jennifer barely contained her laughter when she saw that Dumbledore's head only reached up to her stomach.
"Shall we wait for the others?" said Madame Maxime.
"Of course, they should be along in a few moments" said Dumbledore.
Madame Maxime stood next to him as the Beauxbatons Students stood to one side in a neat square group.
They watched as the group of Durmstrang Students walked up from the lake and made their way over to them led by their Highmaster Igor Karkaroff.
He was a tall skinny man in his early forties with a permanent scowl on his aristocratic face and long sleek black hair with a trimmed black goatee. He was dressed in expensive white fur robes and was holding onto a large shiny wooden staff.
The Durmstrang students were all dressed in brown military-style robes with fur hats and matted fur cloaks draped over their shoulders making them look quite muscular.
Karkaroff walked over to Dumbledore and opened his arms.
"Albus" said Karkaroff with a heavy Bulgarian accent.
"Igor" said Dumbledore wrapping him in a hug.
The two men separated.
"Shall we go up to the castle?" said Dumbledore.
Igor sharply nodded before gesturing to his students.
"Of course Professor Dumbledore, Viktor, walk with me" said Karkaroff sharply.
There were gasps and other noises of delight and shock when a very familiar student made his way over to Karkaroff.
Viktor Krum.
"Blimey it's him… it's Viktor Krum" said Ron in shock and excitement.
"I know, reckon we could get his autograph?" said Josh Sloper in an excited voice.
Jennifer and the others were surprised as they started to walk back up to the castle.
"I didn't know Krum was still at school" said Jennifer in shock.
"Me neither, I knew he was still fairly young, but a student, I didn't think he would be that young" said Melissa.
As they walked back towards the castle Jennifer and the other girls could hear excited whispers and giggles coming from some of the other students.
"Half of the girls in this school are eying him up like a piece of meat, some of the boys too" said Rose.
Lisa gazed over at the Durmstrang students with a wistful smile.
"You can say what you want about hot French girls Terry" said Lisa teasingly.
"I for one wouldn't mind being wrapped up in the arms of one of those Bulgarian boys, so manly" said Padma amusedly.