Disclaim to Fame: Anything that is not mine is not mine.
Chapter One: The Letter
She sat in a tree on the edge of a forest gazing at the stars under the August sky. Her face was pale under the moonlight and her long, curly black hair draped from her head like a hooded cloak.
She smiled as she caught sight of an owl flying towards her.
"Hello Sharmaine. What news do you bring from the Wizarding World?"
The owl, Sharmaine, hooted in reply and landed softly on a branch next to her owner. Sharmaine dropped a letter in her mistress's lap.
"What's this?" The girl turned the letter over with furrowed brows. As she caught sight of the familiar Hogwarts seal, she smiled. "Is it that time again?"
Sharmaine hooted again and flew away for her night hunt.
The young woman held the letter close to her chest and sighed happily. "I can't wait to go back. Things here have been hell."
Just as she said that, a voice called from below. "Cassandra? Do you have any idea what time it is? It's two in the morning! What are you doing up there? Come down right now!"
The girl, Cassandra, looked down to find her older brother, Brett, standing underneath the tree with his arms crossed across his chest.
"What do you want Brett?" Cassandra whined.
"Come down before Mum sees you."
"She's asleep like you should be too."
"And you too?"
"Oh," He caught her there. "Well, I was thinking. You know how much I love the night."
"I do, but come on down. I think I might've woken Arabella or Dawn when I was coming to get up."
"Fine," Cassandra rolled her gray eyes and climbed down the tree. She took a good look at her brother. He was tall, black haired and gray eyes. His features were perfect; his nose was just right and his mouth flawless. He was, dare she say, handsome.
"Let's go." Brett started walking back towards the house, which was a quarter mile away.
She stood dumbstruck for a minute then shook her head. "Wait!" She ran to catch up to him but he ran faster. She almost caught up to him but then he would find some speed. He wouldn't let a sixteen year old beat him. Not when he was twenty two. Besides, what would happen in his friends found out? She shook the thought away and sped faster.
When they reached the house, the kitchen light was on.
"I think we're in trouble." Brett ran his fingers through his hair.
For twenty two, he's still pretty daft. Cassandra thought to herself. Then out loud, "Let's get our lashings over with."
They pushed the door open together and gasped. They walked inside with their jaws on the floor.
Dawn, an auburn haired girl with blazing green eyes, was sitting at the eight person table knitting a scarf with pink and purple yearn.
"Dawn? What are you doing?" Brett asked, still gaping.
"Knitting you dolt. What else does it look like?" Dawn narrowed her emerald eyes.
Brett and Cassandra stared at each other in shock.
Dawn, their feisty little eleven year old cousin, who would on wear black, was knitting. With pink and purple yarn! It was hysterical!
"Er, why are you knitting?" Cassandra asked while twirling a piece of hair.
"It's for Odette. She begged me to knit her one after she caught me making a black one for myself." She gave a mischievous glare at her cousins. "Then I put a dissected snake parts in her pretty white-blonde ringlets. You should've heard her scream."
"You didn't!" Cassandra gasped in horror. She wasn't afraid of anything, well, except for snakes.
"No, but I wanted to." Dawn hung her head sadly.
Brett yawned suddenly.
Dawn dropped her knitting. She grabbed her nose and waved her hand about her face. The she started to gag.
"What's wrong?" Cassandra asked wide eyed.
She stopped gagging and pointed a finger at Brett. "His breath could kill a heard of buffalo."
Cassandra giggled.
"If I kill her now, would it be murder or charity?" Brett stroked her chin.
"Hey!" Dawn crossed her arms and stuck out her pierced tongue.
"What's the matter little dear? Can't come up with a come back?" Brett teased.
"I can come up with one you little, arrogant piece of—!"
"What's going on down there?" a voice called from upstairs.
The cousins could hear someone thundering down the stairs.
"We are in t-r-o-u-b-l-e." Brett muttered.
"Thanks for the spelling lesson." Dawn grumbled.
"Shhh!" Cassandra put a finger to her lips.
The door opened and in walked a medium height woman with flaming red hair. She wore a bath robe with enchanted kittens on it. The kittens were playing and prancing about. Brett had got it for her in his fifth year, about six years ago.
"What's going on down here?" she repeated.
"Er, nothing, Auntie Eve." Dawn said quickly.
The others nodded and echoed, "Yeah, nothing."
Eve eyeballed Dawn's knitting, but didn't say anything. Then she turned her attention to Cassandra's hair.
"Cassandra, you have leaves in your hair. Were you out in the forest again?" Eve pursed her lips and crossed her arms.
"Maybe." Cassandra looked at her shoes.
"How many times have I told you not to leave the house at night? Especially to go into the forest! Do you know how dangerous that is?"
"It's technically morning. It's 2:57."
"Don't you talk back to me young lady! I should have you grounded!"
"Let's get out of here before she brings out the chainsaws." Brett muttered into Dawn's ear.
Dawn nodded and they silently crept towards the door.
"Oh no you don't young man! Where were you? Even if you don't live here anymore and you're only staying for a month, I'm still able to punish you."
"Of course." Now it was Brett's turn to look at his feet.
"I shall be leaving now. I can see this conversation has nothing to do with me. Night!" Dawn said quickly as she sped up the stairs to the room she shared with Cassandra.
Eve watched her go then turned to the two that were left. "Now that she's gone I have something to say to you." She bit her lip. "I received only two Hogwarts letters this year and they were Dawn's and Milo's." Milo was the youngest son. He was thirteen.
"Dawn's?" Brett scratched his head.
"She's going to be a first year you dummy! Go on Mum." Cassandra said.
"Right-o. Anyway, Cassandra, I didn't get yours. Have you been kicked out? I surly would've heard. Oh dear! This is terrible."
"Chillax Mum. I have the letter right here…" Cassandra searched for the letter on her being but only found her wand. "Oops…"
"Did you lose it? You're such an idiot." Brett muttered so only Cassandra could hear.
"Never mind." She raised her wand. "Accio Hogwarts letter."
Suddenly her letter flew from under the door and landed softly in Cassandra's hand.
Cassandra smiled. "See? It's here."
"Very well." Eve uncrossed her arms. "I want you both in bed right now. Scoot!"
The two obeyed and hurried up the stairs. Together the chorused a round on goodnights until Eve was out of view.
Brett turned to her, "So Cassie—,"
"Call me Cassie again and you get your wand up your ass. That's a promise." Cassandra snarled.
Brett ignored her. "So Cassie—,"
"I warned you!" Cassandra whispered a spell that made Brett's wand head straight for his ass.
He gave a faint squeak and ran towards the room that he shared with Milo, the fourth youngest in the family. The youngest was Arabella, who was four and had straight brown hair and washed out blue eyes. Next came Odette, who was seven and had white-blonde curls and sapphire eyes. After Odette came Dawn, who was eleven. After that came Milo, who was thirteen and had brown hair, brown eyes and brown rimmed glasses. Second to oldest came Cassandra, who was sixteen. Oldest was Brett, who was twenty two, was an Auror for the Ministry of magic and only got to come home for a few times during the school year.
"Cassandra!" Brett whispered through the closed door. "Take the damn curse off!"
"As you wish." She did a counter curse on the wand that was poking at the door, trying to get up Brett's butt. Then the wand dropped on the ground. She walked away towards her room.
When she got inside, she pulled off her clothes and slipped into a silk nightgown. Dawn was sound asleep in a bed on the other side of the room, so Cassandra pulled out her diary and wrote about the event of the day, which were few. It was her habit to write every night before she went to sleep.
Dear Diary,
Today was a perfectly normal day. I recived my Hogwarts letter today. Mum thought I was expelled because my letter didn't come with Dawn's letter (yes, she can go to Hogwarts now. Whoopee). I go it when I was in the forest in the tree I like so much. Sharmaine came and gave it to me.
Now that I think about it, something strange did happen today. I found out Dawn can knit! Not only that but she was knitting a pink and purple scarf! She said it was for Odette, but I think she's found a true girl inside her tough skin. I sometime think she's not my cousin. It's actually strange; none of us kids look alike. Brett and I look pretty close but if you knew us, well, you would know we're not. No one looks like Odette. Arabella and Milo look somewhat alike. Dawn looks a lot like Mum though. But there's a problem, she's my cousin.
Oh well, I'll worry about family matters later.
-Cassandra Sanderson-
Cassandra put her diary away under her pillow and fell asleep.
The sun was shining. The birds were singing. It was a crystal clear day; the perfect day.
At least it was before Cassandra got out of bed.
"Cassthandwa! I needs helps." little Arabella cried as she barged into the room.
"Five more minutes Mum." Cassandra ignored her little sister and rolled over in bed.
"No! Now!" Arabella ran over to the bed, jumped on it and pushed Cassandra out of bed. Cassandra fell with a loud thunk.
"Oooo," she moaned.
"Helps meeths." Arabella said with her lisp.
"What do you want Bella? It's only 8:14."
"Wmummy saids tho geths you. And I need helps. I can'th thies my shooes." Arabella pointed to her feet the hopped off the bed.
"Er, Bella, you're not wearing any shoes."
"I knows thaths! I needs you tho thies thems fors mees. They're ins my wroom." Arabella scurried out and Cassandra got up to follow. She sighed and shook her head. Sometimes she understood her sister, but other times she couldn't. She pronounced to as tho and she said most of her T sounds with a TH.
Cassandra shook her head as she walked into the room Odette and Arabella shared.
Suddenly out of nowhere came some green smoke. Then something clasped around Cassandra's body like a rope. She couldn't move. She heard a whisper and suddenly her hair was streaked with pink. "BRETT!"
Brett appeared through the smoke. "How did you know it was me?"
"Let's see, Dad and Mum wouldn't do anything like this. Arabella and Odette don't know any magic. Dawn knows some but only really basic stuff. Milo's too absorbed in his books. I certainly wouldn't do this to myself so that leaves only you."
"You figured it out that quickly?" Brett scratched his head with his wand.
"You know, for an Auror, you're pretty daft."
Arabella appeared through the fading smoke. "Wmummy said snots tho use bads laguwage."
"I'm sorry Bella, but how did you get mixed up in all of this?" Cassandra gave the veil eye to Brett who stood twirling his thumbs.
"Bretths saids thaths I would geths some candies for getthings you to come in heres."
"Did you know you lied to me?" Arabella hung her head sadly.
"She technically didn't lie. She really can't tie her own shoes and she does need help doing it; just not at this moment in time." Brett said easily.
"You're teaching a sweet little girl bad things." Cassandra accused. Then she turned to Arabella. "What else did you lie about?"
"Nothing elses. Wmummy does needs you." Arabella skipped out of the room.
"I guess I should see what she needs. And you better clean up this mess." Cassandra left the room.
As she made her way downstairs she tripped on the first step, tumbled down the rest of the steps, landed on her arm funny, let out a waterfall of colorful words and slipped and she tried to get up again.
That was before she even made it to the kitchen.
"Cassandra, what in the name of Merlin did you do to your hair?" Eve stood in shock as she fingered Cassandra's hair.
"I, er, umm…"
"How many times did I tell you, you couldn't dye your hair?"
"Er…"
"You're grounded."
"But I…"
"No buts from you missy." She took out her wand and changed the color of Cassandra's hair back to normal. "That's better.'
"What did you want Mum?"
"I wanted to tell you that we are going to go to Diagon Alley today to get your school supplies. Well, yours and Milo's and Dawn's, that is."
Cassandra nodded.
"Now hurry up. Dawn and Milo are already ready. Hurry."
Cassandra nodded and started to walk away. She tripped and bruised her elbow. Something told her that this month was cursed.
They left the house at 9:30. They reached Diagon Alley shortly afterward.
Eve took Milo and Dawn to get their supplies while Cassandra left them to find her own. She was surprised to find so many people she didn't know. Then again, this was the day some shops had sales for first years.
Cassandra walked into the quill shop and started examining the new styles of quills.
"Cassandra? Can it really be you?" Cassandra whirled around to find a brown haired, purple eyed girl waving to her. It was Helena Rye, her best friend since their first year.
"Helena! Oh Merlin am I glad to see you." The two girls embraced and shared their stories about how their summers had been.
The two witches finished their school shopping and decided to go find some new robes.
"I think you should get a dark blue. It would accent your eyes perfectly. I will get a violet one or an emerald— Hey! Is that Hermione?"
Cassandra looked over to find a bushy brown haired girl walked towards them.
"Mione!" The girls ran and wrapped each other in a three person hug.
"How have you been guys? It seems like forever since we talked last." Hermione smiled at the other two.
It was true, they hadn't talked in forever. Fifth year was a very depressing year for everyone and it kind of shook their friendship apart. They drifted away from each other but this year they were determined to try harder.
"Fine. You?" Helena replied.
"Fine."
"I hear there's a new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher." Hermione said.
"I heard about that. Rumor has it that it's a woman. Can you believe it?"
Before anyone could answer a voice rang out, "Cassandra! Let's go." Eve walked into the shop and looked at the girls. "Hello girls, nice to see you again."
"Hello Mrs. Sanderson." The two girls chorused.
Eve turned her attention back to Cassandra. "Pay for that robe and we need to be going. I left the other kids at a candy shop. I'm afraid of the consequences. Goodbye girls."
"Goodbye Mrs. Sanderson." The girls chorused again.
"Bye bye Cassandra." Hermione gave her a tight squeeze.
"Yeah, bye." Helena drew Cassandra in a great bear hug.
Cassandra waved goodbye and paid for the robes. She and Eve silently gathered the other two and went home.
A few weeks passed and it was the night before Cassandra was to leave for Hogwarts. It was a cold, rainy night. The lights in the house would flicker on and off. The Sanderson family had electricity because they lived in the Muggle world, even though they were wizards and witches, and had to act as normal as possible. They lived near the edge of a forest that was "haunted" so no one dared to visit them.
Cassandra was sitting in a window sill in her room, staring out into the black sky.
"Do you think it will be like this tomorrow?" Dawn asked as she closed the lid to her packed trunk.
"Maybe." Cassandra replied shortly.
Dawn sighed and walked out of the room.
A few minutes later Eve walked in.
"Cassandra Ivy,"
Uh oh. This was not going to be a pretty conversation. Eve never used her full name. Only when she was in serious trouble.
"Whatever it was, it was all Brett's fault. I had nothing to do with it."
"I didn't accuse you of anything."
"In that case, go on."
"You know how our family doesn't look alike?"
"Sure we do. Just not always."
"No, we don't. Dawn looks like me because she is my niece. You are…"
"If you're going to tell me that I was a fault of your treason against Father. I don't want to hear about it."
"It's not that. In fact I have to tell you something. Something very important."
"Ok, tell me."
"Cassandra Ivy…"
Again with the Cassandra Ivy! Why was cursed with such a strange name? Well, it was better than Helena Antoinette Rye.
"Yes Mum?"
"Cassandra Ivy…"
What Cassandra heard next made her scream.
A/N: Did I leave you with a cliff hanger? I'm sorry, really. This chapter was about Cassandra's family. You'll be seeing a lot of Dawn but not a lot of the other member of the family. But I do really like Brett…
Please review!
I'd like to thank my wonderful reviewers.
Saxifrage: I solemnly swear in the name of Jimmy and all things loofaful that I will try to stay with the summary.
My anonymous person JLM, but I really know who you are (Ooo scary!): Their arm hurts because of the Dark Mark. You should really read Harry Potter. I bet your sister has…
Trojan Cheese: Need you tell me….?
Tamgtoure, another anonymous person: Thank you, thank you. And yes they are. I hope this chapter explained.
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