Cassandra stared at the 12¾" yew wand on the edge of her bed, trying with all her might to make it fly to her. 'Accio wand,' she repeated in her mind once again. A bead of sweat ran down the back of her neck, and the tension in her temples warned her of an oncoming headache - she'd been at this for more than an hour. One more try, she thought stubbornly. 'Accio wand!'
Nothing. With great frustration, she wiped the sweat that had accumulated on her hairline and reached forward for the uncooperative object.
She found Adrian playing wizard's chess in the common room with a third year, who promptly scurried away upon seeing her. She sat in a carved chair across her friend and continued the game from where her predecessor had left it.
"Anything?" Adrian asked.
"Not even a twitch. It's been a whole month, I should be able to do it by now," she complained. "Your turn."
"You're a fourth year trying to perform a nonverbal wandless spell," Adrian said, making a move that got him one of her knights. "You can't perform incredibly advanced and notoriously difficult magic? Welcome to the club."
"Whatever," Cassandra replied. "I just feel as if there's this… wall, keeping me from being able to access my magic without a wand, and I have no clue how to break through it."
Adrian hummed noncommittally; he clearly wasn't too invested in the subject.
"Forget it," she said, moving on from the topic. "Have you decided if you're coming with me to Cedric's party tomorrow?"
A month into term, she'd been invited by a Hufflepuff prefect to attend a surprise party the Hufflepuff Quidditch team was planning for Cedric's birthday. She'd been bewildered by their willingness to include her, and even more so by Professor Sprout's reassurance she was welcome to visit the Hufflepuff Basement for the celebration - she couldn't imagine the same ever happening if Cedric were to approach Professor Snape.
"Sorry, but I promised Flint we'd meet up to go over the new plays for the season," Adrian answered without looking up from the chess board. He was within a couple moves of beating her - that third year had been playing a horrid game.
"You and Flint, huh. Just the two of you?" Cassandra asked with faux innocence.
Adrian looked at her crossly, she smiled a small, amused smile.
The next day, at five o'clock, Cassandra made her way to the kitchen corridor where the entrance to the Hufflepuff Basement was concealed. She tapped the correct barrel to the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff', and with a resigned sigh crawled through the passageway that led to the cellar.
Even though she'd expected their common room to be different from her own, the actual sight of it was jarring. When she thought of Hogwarts, she thought of the cool stone walls and greenish lamps of the Slytherin Dungeon, of iron and silver and black leather, and the relaxing swishing sound of the lake that could be heard at night. The room she was in was all wood and copper and warm earthy tones, filled with plants and brightly illuminated by sunlight.
"Hello!" Said someone, snapping Cassandra out of her musings.
"Hello, Preece," Cassandra replied, recognizing the brown-haired wizard who played as a chaser on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and was close friends with her boyfriend. "I thought the team would be at practice right now, keeping Cedric busy."
"Oh, that's just him and Max," Preece answered. Max Tupper was the current Hufflepuff Captain, and had been priming Cedric to be his replacement since the beginning of the year, his last at Hogwarts. "The rest of us stayed back to get everything ready."
"Right. So, how can I help?"
Forty minutes later, Cassandra was yelling "Happy Birthday!" to a surprised Cedric alongside what seemed to be half of the Hufflepuff students. She hung back and watched him accept birthday wishes with grace and earnest gratitude. When he finally registered her presence, his face broke into a brilliant smile. 'I love him,' she thought for the first time in her life, and something that for long had been tightly rolled inside her chest began to unfurl.
"I'm so glad you're here," Cedric said, wrapping her in a hug that lifted her off the ground.
"Happy birthday," Cassandra replied. Three words sat at the tip of her tongue, eager to slip from her mouth; but they were surrounded by people and she felt too protective of their relationship to share that moment with anyone else. "Thank you for being in my life."
"Thank you for letting me," Cedric said. "I love you."
'I love you, too,' she thought, but kissed him instead. Cedric's friends hollered at them.
"Do you mind if we mingle? I don't want to be rude," he said, a faint pink blush colouring his cheeks.
"Of course not, it's your party," she smiled.
Cassandra had never been to a surprise birthday party before, but even if she had, she doubted the stiff-upper-lipped purebloods she reluctantly socialized with would go about it the way the Hufflepuffs did. There were cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface; people were draped over overstuffed sofas and chairs; and someone had turned the wireless on to play the Weird Sisters. Considering her last name and the rumors that had followed her in the past about her supposed involvement with the Dark Arts, Cassandra had expected to be given a wide berth by Cedric's housemates, but that wasn't the case. They had seemingly decided that if Cedric trusted her, so would the rest of them.
"So, what's Slytherin's opinion on Professor Lockhart, Lestrange? We haven't been able to reach a consensus yet," asked Gabriel Truman, the prefect who had approached her about the party.
"I don't know about Slytherin as a whole, but my opinion is that he's a terrible teacher," Cassandra said.
"But all the things he's done!" Exclaimed a Hufflepuff witch (Tam… something Applewood? Applebee? Cassandra was terrible with names).
"If he's actually accomplished all he claims to have - and that's a big if, then no one can dispute his skills at offensive magic," Cassandra said. "But even then, what does reenacting his books in class accomplish? We can all read. He could at least attempt to teach the spells mentioned in them."
"That would be nice. Can you imagine, being able to banish a hag?" The other girl said.
"I'd like to learn the spell he used at the end of Wanderings With Werewolves to make sure the Wagga Wagga Werewolf would never transform again. Think of how many lives could be improved if it were more widely known! I can't think of a worse fate than being infected with lycanthropy and having to live the rest of your life as a dark creature," Gabriel said.
"I asked my dad about that, and he told me no one in the history of the Department of Magical Creatures has ever managed to permanently cure a werewolf using the Homorphus Charm; only to temporarily return them to their human form. And every wizard in the Werewolf Capture Unit has to be able to perform it to make it into the squad," Cedric offered.
"And it's not as 'immensely complex' as Lockhart says it is, either," Cassandra said. "It's essentially an untransfiguration spell. You visualise their original form, put your will behind the casting and say the incantation. The reason why it's so rarely used is because it takes a monumental amount of willpower to trigger the change. Well, and also, the tip of your wand has to be placed against the throat of the creature you want to turn back into human, and once a werewolf has you that close-" she felt a shudder going through Cedric's body where he had his arm around her, "your best hope is that it finishes you off quickly."
"How do you know all of that?" Gabriel asked.
"Good summer tutor," Cassandra answered.
When the party began to wind down, Cassandra nudged Cedric towards a spot of the common room where they could talk without being overheard.
"I have something to give you, but I don't want to do it in front of an audience," Cassandra said.
"You didn't have to get me anything," Cedric said. She rolled her eyes at him. "We could go to my dorm? No one's going to be in there at this hour."
"Do you have any idea what people are going to say when they notice the two of us disappeared into your dorm room in the middle of your birthday party? Do you have any concern at all for my reputation, Cedric Diggory?"
Cedric blushed so hard the top of his ears turned red. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thin-"
"Lead the way," Cassandra interrupted him with a cheeky smile.
"How can you be so infuriating?" Cedric said once they reached his dorm room and he closed the door behind them, backing Cassandra up against it. "And still make me so - damn - crazy - for you," he said between kisses.
"The fury is half of the allure," she murmured against his mouth before kissing him back.
"Do you want to see your presents or not?" Cassandra asked after a while.
"Presents. As in more than one," Cedric said.
"Just two; so you don't have to freak out," Cassandra said, letting him lead her towards his bed. She sat down in the middle of the four-poster bed, ran her hand over the patchwork quilt that covered it. "As a matter of fact, I'd like you to promise me you're not going to freak out."
"Why?" Cedric asked with suspicion.
"Because you and I have different attitudes to money, and I don't want to be deprived of gifting you something because you might be weird about it," Cassandra answered. "So instead of you insisting you can't accept your presents, and me insisting you can until I wear you down and you relent; you can simply promise not to freak out, and spare us both the trouble."
"Will giving me whatever it is you got me make you happy?" Cedric sighed.
"Yes."
"Then fine. I promise I won't freak out," he said.
"Thank you!" Cassandra said, and gave him a loud smacking kiss on the cheek. She took two small packages out of her robes pocket and performed the counter-spell to the Shrinking Charm she'd placed on the items earlier.
"You didn't," Cedric said, eyeing a long rectangular package topped with a bright red bow. The shape of a broomstick was unmistakable, even when covered in wrapping paper.
"I did."
He unwrapped the brand new Nimbus 2001 with great care, handling as one would a precious treasure. "But-"
"You promised you wouldn't freak out," she reminded him. "I wasn't planning on getting you one, until my uncle bought one of those for everyone in the Slytherin team to bribe my idiot cousin's way in. You can see it as my way of… balancing the scales. You're a Hufflepuff, you're supposed to care about fairness."
Cedric listened to her rant with a smile. "Thank you. I love it."
"You do?"
"I do."
"Great! Now open this one," Cassandra said, handing the other package to him.
Something fluttered in her stomach when Cedric ran his fingers over the letters engraved on the cover of the first of the four books in front of him. It had taken her a considerable amount of effort to get her hands on them, and unlike the racing broom, the books had personal significance to her boyfriend.
"I know I said I had only gotten you two presents, but it's really one book divided in four volumes; so technically, it wasn't a lie."
Cedric opened the book and gasped at what he saw on its first page. "It's a first edition."
"I know," Cassandra said. "I hope you can read Spanish. If you can't, it's an illustrated version, so you can still look at the pictures."
"It's my favorite book."
"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?" Cassandra quoted. "Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams - this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness - and maddest of all:"
"To see life as it is, and not as it should be," Cedric finished. "You read it."
"I did," Cassandra said. 'I love you', she thought, but the weight of those words was suddenly impossibly heavy. How could she possibly say them? Did she deserve to love someone like Cedric - someone so genuinely good, when one day she would turn into a terrifying, soulless monster?
"Hey, don't cry," Cedric said softly, wiping a tear she hadn't noticed shedding. "I love it, I really do. It's perfect. You're perfect."
She let him comfort her, and promised to herself she would tell him soon.
The end of October came quickly. Between classwork, Quidditch practice, Occlumency exercises and more fruitless attempts at mastering wandless summoning, Cassandra managed to go through the rest of the month without revisiting the issue of whether she should tell Cedric about her feelings or not. By the time the 31st arrived, she had another, more timely confession to make.
"What do you mean, he doesn't know today's your birthday?" Adrian asked her during lunch.
"Why would he know that?" Cassandra replied. "You know I don't celebrate my birthday. The only people who know it are what's left of my family and you, and I've forbidden all of you from acknowledging it."
"The two of you have been together for almost a year," Adrian said as if she were slow. "At some point he'll do the math and realize you must have had a birthday and didn't tell him about it."
"So what?" Cassandra shrugged.
"What do you mean so what?" Adrian asked, his voice going up an octave. "He's your boyfriend. It's insane that you're hiding your birthday from him just because you don't want to tell him you have a hang-up about it."
"I don't have a hang-up about my birthday," Cassandra said. Adrian stared at her impatiently. "Fine, I do have a hang-up about my birthday. But I don't see why it's such a big deal that I'm not rushing to tell him about it. It's just one of those things."
"One of what things?" Adrian frowned.
"One of those things… everyone has things they don't talk about, mine's my birthday. It's not as if I'm planning to lie to him if the subject ever comes up naturally. I'll tell him then," Cassandra said defensively.
"You're acting like an insane person. No, you're acting like a coward," Adrian said.
"I'm not a coward," Cassandra protested.
"Yes, you are," Adrian replied.
"No, I'm not!"
"Then go tell him today's your birthday. Say you don't like to celebrate it, but you thought he should know. That easy," Adrian said.
She hesitated.
"Coward."
"Fine! Have it your way," Cassandra spat out, getting up from her seat. She marched to the Hufflepuff table; when Cedric noticed her, she motioned towards the entrance to the Great Hall.
"What happened? Is something wrong?" Cedric asked, catching up to her.
"No, nothing's wrong. I just realized I forgot to tell you something," Cassandra answered. Was her voice higher than usual?
"Is it about the ritual tonight? I haven't forgotten," Cedric said.
"Of course you haven't," Cassandra muttered, mostly to herself. 'It'll be fine,' she chanted in her mind, 'He loves you, it'll be fine.'
"So," she continued. "Remember how your birthday was at the beginning of the month?"
"I remember my own birthday, yes," Cedric answered with an amused little smile.
"Well, today is mine," she blubbered.
"What?"
"Today is my birthday. I was born right as the clock struck midnight between the 30th and 31st of October, fifteen years ago. My parents saw it as an omen of power. Please don't say happy birthday," Cassandra pleaded, her cheeks heating up.
"I- sure, if that's what you want. May I ask why?" Cedric said.
"I have a thing about it," Cassandra said awkwardly.
"A thing," he repeated.
"I don't celebrate my birthday," she said, thoroughly uncomfortable. "My parents used to when I was little, or so I've been told. But my earliest birthday memory is from October 31st, 1981."
Cedric drew a sharp breath. "That was when-"
"The Dark Lord was vanquished, yes. All I remember is being in my room, Mimi brushing my hair; then hearing the most anguished, horrified scream you can imagine. I walked to the top of the stairs to see what was happening, and my mother was… She was shrieking uncontrollably, throwing curses around. It seemed as if someone had ripped her heart from her chest, and she couldn't bear the pain."
"I'm… so sorry you had to witness that," Cedric said.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "The next year, my parents were so devoted to finding him, they weren't even in the country for it. And the year after that I was already with grandfather, and he's never been too good at remembering important dates. It became a day I dread rather than one I look forward to, and the last thing I want is to have to put on a fake smile and act like I don't bloody hate this day, every single year. That's why I hate receiving birthday wishes."
"No birthday wishes, easy; I can do that. Anything else?" Cedric asked.
"No birthday gifts, either," she added.
Cedric didn't say anything, but the frown between his brows betrayed his feelings.
"You can give me an extra gift for Yule if you want to, but nothing for my birthday. I would prefer it to go unacknowledged entirely. We'll celebrate Samhain like proper wizards instead, and that'll be that," Cassandra said.
"Alright. Samhain is a great holiday, who wouldn't want to celebrate it?" Cedric said. Cassandra's heart skipped at his easy acceptance. "By the way," he continued, "and please know this has nothing to do with what you just told me, is there anything you've had your eye on lately? Maybe something that would be a good Yule present for a guy to give his girlfriend?"
Cassandra smiled despite herself, narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend's obvious attempt to lift her spirits. "And this has nothing to do with me?"
"It might have a little to do with you. Just a little," Cedric conceded.
Cassandra thought about it. Just then, a brilliant idea struck her. "You know how one of my very favourite things in the world is aggravating people I don't like?"
"Yes, you're amazing at it," Cedric replied.
"Currently, my cousin and his father are at the top of that list; and I know something you can give me I can use to get an inordinate amount of joy at their expense," she said.
"What?"
"Do you still have your last broom?"
"The Nimbus 2000 you gave me last year?" Cedric asked. She nodded. "I do, why?"
"I want it as a gift," Cassandra said.
"Your gift can't be something you gave to me," Cedric said with exasperation. "You're essentially gifting yourself."
"I don't care, it's what I want," she replied.
"You're going to drive me to insanity one of these days. Of course you can have the broom, but it doesn't count as a real present," he said. "I'm still getting you another gift for Yule, that you didn't pay for."
"Fine by me," she shrugged. "Would you mind getting it for me now?"
"You're not serious," Cedric said.
Cassandra gave him a beatific smile, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Please? It's really the best Yule present I think of. It would make me so very happy."
"Just for clarification, you want me to give you a Yule present on the day of your birthday, even though I'm expressly forbidden from giving you a birthday present?"
"It makes sense if you don't think too hard about it."
"Fine, you maddening witch," Cedric said, grabbing both sides of her face to plant a hard quick kiss on her lips. "I'll be right back."
"I love you!" Cassandra said to his retreating back before she could catch herself. Both of them froze, Cedric turned on the spot to look at her.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"Nothing," Cassandra said. "I didn't say anything." Her heart was beating so hard, she felt it might leap out of her throat at any moment. "I'll see you," she said lamely. "Because you're coming right back; I'll see you."
Cedric didn't call her out on her cowardice, accepting her reluctance like seemed to accept everything else about her. "I'll see you, too," he said tenderly, infusing those words with meaning, and she understood him just as he had understood her.
Cassandra rushed to her dorm room to get her own old Nimbus 2000, waited for Cedric to come back with his, then walked out of the castle to one of her favourite spots, near the Forbidden Forest.
"Ouch," Fred Weasley said, trying to bat Klaus away from him and towards his brother. "Stop biting me you damn bird; I'm coming with you, aren't I?"
Cassandra whistled sharply, Klaus flew to her and landed gently on her shoulder.
"Oi, Lestrange," Fred called out, "you have got to find a less aggressive courier to deliver your messages."
"What would be the fun in that?" She asked. "Thank you for coming."
"Of course we came, you're our friend," George said.
"You even managed to convince some people on our team you aren't a pureblood git like the rest of your family with that smackdown you handed Malfoy," Fred grinned. "Offering to back up Hermione like you did was pretty decent of you, Cassie."
"Yes, I'm the very image of decency," she replied. "Actually, what I want to talk about is somewhat related to that."
"We're all ears," said Fred and George together.
"Please don't do that. Remember how Draco's father bought our whole team Nimbus 2001s?" Cassandra asked.
"How could we forget?" Fred said darkly. "It's only all Malfoy talks about whenever we're unfortunate enough to see him."
"Well, as it so happens, thanks to my uncle's generous donation I have two Nimbus 2000s in excellent condition I have no use for anymore, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have flying on them than the two of you. So, what do you think?" Cassandra asked, moving to reveal the racing broomsticks behind her.
"How come you have two of them?" George asked her, but his eyes were glued to the brooms.
"I'm very rich," Cassandra replied easily.
"We don't need your charity," Fred said, crossing his arms. "We've beaten your team on our Cleensweeps before, we'll beat you again."
"Right, because I'm well-known for my charitable nature," Cassandra said. "I'm not offering to give them to you, I'm selling them."
"How much?" George asked, but he seemed almost afraid to hear her answer.
"One Galleon," Cassandra said.
"One Galleon? That's ridiculous, woman. Even used, those brooms are worth a hundred times that," Fred exclaimed.
"Two Galleons, then. One Galleon each seems fair to me, and that's my final offer."
"George, is she messing with us?" Fred said.
"I have no idea, Fred," George replied.
"I know this might be hard to understand since you don't come from a family of psychos who choose their spouses based on purity of blood and financial prospects, but when I say I'm very rich, I mean it. I could buy a Nimbus 2001 for every single person in this school, and still have plenty of money left. Whether I get two or two hundred Galleons for these brooms makes no difference to me," Cassandra said. "What I really want in return for them is the pleasure of knowing that my uncle's pathetic bribing scheme resulted in two Gryffindor Quidditch players getting top-of-the-market brooms, at essentially no cost. In a way, it's like he'll have subsidized them."
"And why on Merlin's sagging bollocks do you think we would ever accept anything bought with Malfoy's money?" Fred asked heatedly.
"These brooms were bought with my money, he just happened to buy their replacement. And the answer is: because that would infuriate him," Cassandra said.
"This doesn't feel right," Fred said, looking at his brother. George agreed.
"Fine, then can you get Spinnet and your other chaser for me, please? Not Bell, the one that can't stay on her broom," Cassandra asked them. "I don't think they would respond too well to Klaus' approach."
"Do you mean Angelina Johnson?" George asked.
"If that's her name, then yes," Cassandra said.
"Hey, she's a perfectly good flyer, you know that was a dirty play from your guys that knocked her off her broom last year!" Fred said.
"We'll agree to disagree on that. So, will the two of you get them for me? I'll wait here," Cassandra said.
"What do you want with them?" George said.
"The same I wanted with you, to see if they'll take these brooms. Hopefully they're not as foolishly proud as the two of you," Cassandra said.
"Wait," Fred said. "You're gonna offer them the same deal, one Galleon a broom? The price wasn't for our sake?"
"No, you git. I offered it to the two of you because we're friends, and because Lucius hates your family's guts. But I reckon any Gryffindor player will do," Cassandra replied. Only the last part was a lie. She would take a lot more enjoyment out of this deal if the brooms ended up in the hands of Arthur Weasley's sons; according to her grandfather, Lucius had complained about the man throughout the entire summer.
Fred and George looked at each other, communicating silently. "We'll take them!" They said.
"Brilliant," Cassandra smiled.
Just as the Halloween feast commenced that night, Cedric and Cassandra walked towards the Forbidden Forest together, Klaus flying above them to warn of any witnesses to their rule-breaking.
"Are you sure about this?" Cedric asked in a low voice when they reached the edge of the woods.
"Yes," Cassandra replied serenely, and entered the forest.
They walked along a narrow path leading southwest, watching their steps and ducking to avoid low-slung branches. Finally, they entered a small clearing ribboned with shadows, the flat ground covered with gnarled roots; enormous trees towered over them, filled with the glowing eyes of watchful creatures.
"It's perfect," she said.
The witch kneeled on the ground and carefully removed the necessary tools for the ritual from her bag, separating the mortar and pestle and potion ingredients; meanwhile, Cedric created an enchanted bonfire of black flames in the center of the clearing. They prepared the ingredients and set a cauldron over the fire; then added to it chopped asphodel roots, angel's trumpet petals, powdered iron, powdered moonstone and tincture of demiguise, stirring until the potion turned silver. Lastly, Cassandra sliced the neck of an augurey Klaus had hunted down while they brewed, and poured its blood in the cauldron while Cedric stirred it into the potion - they had rehearsed the ritual thrice in the past week, and their movements were fluid and synchronized. Once taken out of the fire and cooled, the resulting liquid was of a deep maroon colour. She poured it into a conjured silver chalice, drank half of it, and handed the cup to Cedric so he could drink the rest.
Immediately, she started shivering as though she'd just sunk into an ice bath, then a fluttering sensation spread from her stomach to the very ends of her fingers and toes. Her skin felt paper-thin, and suddenly her clothes were oppressively heavy on her body; her magic wanted to flow freely.
"We should undress now," Cassandra said.
Nudity was a natural part of many ancient magic rituals, practiced in the times when magic was not channeled through wands, but through one's body. Cassandra had discussed the possibility of it being needed with Cedric beforehand, but he still hesitated.
"I can turn around to give you some privacy," he offered.
Witches and wizards from pureblood lines that had refused to capitulate to Judeo-Christian Muggle beliefs were much less prudish than their counterparts. Instead of answering Cedric's question, Cassandra simply removed her robe, letting it fall to the ground. Next were her shoes, sweater, tie and tights. She watched Cedric's eyes following her fingers as she unbuttoned her shirt, took of her skirt, her undergarments. She stood in front of him, bare-skinned and unselfconscious.
"Your turn," she said.
Cedric blinked a few times, then proceeded to do as she had. Cassandra studied the planes and slopes of his naked form. He was beautiful - as beautiful as she could've ever pictured him; as anyone could be. With a sigh, she redirected her focus to the Samhain ritual she'd come to the Forbidden Forest to perform.
The effects of the potion were hard to ignore by that point: their skins had developed a greyish-silver glow, their body temperatures had dropped considerably, and they were both mostly numb to physical sensations.
"I feel…" Cedric started, but couldn't find the words he needed to complete that thought.
"I know," Cassandra said with amazement. "It's like being a spectator in your own body. Rationally, I know I should be cold; but I'm not. I can't smell the smoke coming from that fire or feel the earth and the roots beneath my feet. I can think, but I can't feel."
"How does it work?" Cedric asked.
"During Samhain, the veil that separates the world of the living and the realm of the dead is at its most permeable," Cassandra explained. "The potion does something similar to whoever drinks it - it temporarily blurs the line. We're not dead, but we aren't completely alive either."
"That's… incredible," Cedric said.
"By itself, it's a nice trick. What we're going to do with it, that's going to be incredible. Come on,"
The next step of the ritual required a runecaster to walk counter-clockwise along the edges of the clearing, carving runes on tree trunks with a silver blade.
"Rhaido," Cassandra murmured solemnly as she carved. "The rune of travel, that symbolizes the journey to the afterlife. It can be used to bind the dead to this world, but tonight we use it to free them. Perthro, that can provide or open a barrier to the realm of the dead, and make one confront their regrets one last time. Uruz, to strengthen a summons; eihwaz, for liberation from the fear of death; soliwo, for enlightenment and redemption."
After finishing the task, Cassandra contemplated her runework. In every tree she'd marked, she'd drawn the five runes at equidistance to form the shape of a pentagram. There had been no thought behind the action - it had simply felt right to; and looking at them now, she saw that it was. A shiver ran down her spine. Many wizards limited their magic to such mundane spells, they lost sight of the truly extraordinary things they could do; not her.
Silently, she offered her hand to Cedric, who interlaced his fingers with hers. Everything around her felt cold and numb, but Cedric's body temperature matched hers. In that moment, he was the only thing that felt real. She led them towards the center of the clearing where the enchanted bonfire still burned black, stopping to grab a small velvet bag and the masks she'd bought at Borgin and Burkes before the beginning of term. Hers was made of dragonhide, onyx black, and molded to resemble the long beak and feathered top of a raven's head; Cedric's was made of bone and had the shape of an animal skull from which two large spiraled horns protruded.
Once they had their masks on, she looked at Cedric again. She took in his naked body, the golden hairs on his chest and between his legs, the way the shadows cast by the black flames danced against the unearthly glow the potion had given to his skin, his eyes gazing at her from behind the beastlike mask.
"You look wild," he said, stealing the words from her mouth. He ran a knuckle softly over her jaw, took a lock of her dark tresses between his fingers and ran them down until the end of her hair, right against the curve of her hip. "Untamed."
"I love you," she said with conviction, staring into his eyes.
Cedric smiled sweetly, as if it made perfect sense that she had chosen this moment to say those words. "And I love you," he answered.
"Sometime soon, we'll make love," Cassandra said. "And it will probably involve a ritual circle, and runes, and it will attune our magic. I'll ruin you for anyone else."
"You already have."
Cassandra squeezed his hand, then turned to the enchanted bonfire. "After I end the first half of the invocation, you throw the bones into the flames."
Cedric nodded, and she started chanting:
"The harvest has ended, and the fields are bare.
The earth has grown cold, and the land is empty.
Death lingers over us, keeping a watchful eye;
it waits patiently, for eternity is theirs.
We call upon you, Death!
You who guard the afterlife,
and guide the dead on their final journey.
At this time of cold and dark,
we honour you, and ask that you come to us.
Help us guide the regretful spirits who once evaded you."
Cedric tossed the bones into the fire, suddenly the entire clearing was engulfed by flames. The Forbidden Forest was kept from burning in a furious black inferno only by the protective circle that surged as soon as the magic fire licked against Cassandra's runes. The flames were retreated to the bonfire, leaving charred soil and plants in their wake. If it weren't for the suspended state Cassandra and Cedric were in, they would've burned as well.
The fire was now burning pearl white, the runes in the trees glowing in the same tone. Cassandra closed her eyes and returned to her chanting, directing the magic coursing through her body and infusing it with her will:
"O great flame that burns so bright,
we ask you to be a beacon on this night.
May you light the path to rueful spirits,
that they come see what's ahead.
Shine until Death takes their hand,
and lead them to the afterlife.
With your light, bring them to us!
So we can give them peace;
so that they may take their final journey.
She heard Cedric gasp and opened her eyes. The clearing was now filled with dozens of ghosts, all staring at them.
"With what purpose do you call us here?" A glum priest asked. He took in her corvid mask and Cedric's animal skull and his face soured in distaste. "Are you Necromancers?"
"I have no interest in raising the dead," Cassandra answered. "You are here because instead of dying, you chose an impoverished simulacrum of life, and have come to regret your decision not to move on. You can't experience physical pleasure; your minds cannot evolve beyond what it was during your lifetime; and everyone you once loved is long gone."
"And ye mean to rub our noses in it, do ye?" A ragged man wearing shackles said.
"We mean to give you a second chance to move on to the next dimension. This is a Crossing Ritual," Cassandra said.
A beautiful young woman in a 17th century gown started sobbing. "I- I've been waiting for so long." The other ghosts turned to her, and she continued speaking through tears. "My mother used to perform these. For decades now, I've been waiting and waiting, but no one…"
"You have a chance tonight. In the night when the barrier between the land of the living and the land of the dead is at its thinnest, we've called for Death, and it has answered, and opened a pathway. Still, the choice is yours," Cassandra said.
"How?" A knight with a sword sticking out of his breastplate asked eagerly. "How do we cross?"
"We walk through the flames," the girl in 17th century garb said. "It's a temporary veil to the afterlife."
"How do we know you're not lying?" The ghost of an old woman asked. "This could all be a trick."
"I assure you we mean you no harm, ma'am," Cedric said reassuringly.
The crone still looked skeptical, Cassandra scoffed. "You're free to float back from where you came from. You wasted your chance at eternal peace once, it matters little to me if you waste it again. But what's the worst that can happen if you try? You're already dead."
"I'll do it," the ghost of the sobbing young woman said. "I want to, please. I miss mother, and father, and my aunt and cousins. I want to see them again, please."
Cassandra looked at Cedric, they took a step away from each other, leaving space for the ghosts to walk between them into the white fire. The young woman paused in front of them and started to cry again.
"Thank you. To both of you, thank you so much."
When the spirit passed through the flames without coming out at the other side of the bonfire, the ghosts started murmuring amongst themselves. They glided into the fire one by one, some with concern, others with obvious relief and even joy. What they all shared in their expressions, however, was hope.
In the end, only one spectre remained in the clearing, a gaunt ghost covered in silver bloodstains, carrying heavy chains.
"Baron?" Cassandra asked, recognizing her House ghost.
"You would be one of mine," the Bloody Baron said. His voice was low and raspy, as if it had gone unused for too much time.
"The corvid mask… Miss Lestrange? And I assume you are Mr. Diggory."
"Yes, sir," Cedric said.
"This ritual hasn't been done in these woods in a long time… too long," the ghost said.
"Do you wish to cross, Baron?" Cassandra said. "I'll explain your disappearance to the Headmaster, if so."
The Bloody Baron sighed wistfully, looking at the fire. "There is only one thing I wish more."
"What is it?" Cedric said.
"Atonement. I once committed a most disgraceful sin, for which I took my own life in regret. But the one I've sinned against has yet to find peace, and as long as she roams this world, so must I," The Bloody Baron said mournfully. "But let not my misery take away from the venerable feat of magic you performed today. In these troubled times, our House will need a witch like you to guide your peers, Miss Lestrange."
"What do you mean, in these troubled times?" Cassandra asked, curious.
"Forgive me, you must have been here for hours, of course you would not have received word of it yet. I'm afraid the Chamber of Secrets has been opened."
A.N.: And we're back! Like Cedric and Cassandra in this chapter, I've also had a birthday recently. I turned [redacted] years old yesterday, so if you want to give me a present and can't afford a Nimbus 2001, please consider leaving a review. See you soon xx.