A/N: I am having writer's block on My Two Selves so I will be working on this one a lot!
Disclaimer: The funny policeman thing, the movie theater and the watch are not mine. I got them from a friend's AIM profile (JML). I also don't own any of J.K.R.'s stuff. Sad, I know…
Chapter Two: Ah, the Bittersweet Truth
Cassandra kept on screaming.
"Shhh! Dear, you'll wake up Arabella!" Eve put a finger to her lips.
"YOU TELL ME TO BE QUIET WHEN YOU'VE JUST TOLD ME THE WORST NEWS POSSIBLE? I CAN'T BEVLIEVE YOU!"
"I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you for a long time but your father and I decided it was best to wait until you were sixteen. Well, not just you, all the kids."
"I don't wish to speak to you anymore Mother." Cassandra said bitterly.
Eve sighed sadly and walked out the room, closing the door behind her.
Cassandra paced the room and rubbed her temples. "What the hell am I going to do?"
Just then the door opened and Dawn stepped through the frame. "Try packing your trunk. We're leaving bright and early tomorrow."
"For once I will follow your suggestion. I'm in such a pissy mood I don't care."
"I don't know if I should feel proud or scared."
"Scared. Now can you leave me alone to pack?"
"Sure, but what was all the yelling about?"
Cassandra looked away from her. "It was nothing. Now leave."
Dawn sighed and left in a huff.
Now it was Cassandra's turn to sigh. So much had happened in the last ten minutes. It was unbearable!
Cassandra flopped on her bed and found her diary from under her pillow. She took a Muggle pen and started writing.
Dear Diary,
I can't believe my life! It's all discombobulated! It's going down the drain! It's gone!
What happened today was the cause of my death (though I'm not really dead; it just feels like it!). Mum, or should I say Eve, has told me the truth. The reason why none of my family looks alike is
"Are you packing?" Dawn's voice called from downstairs.
"Yes. I'm very busy. Stop bothering me!" Cassandra slammed her diary shut and rolled off her bed. She landed with a thunk on the floor.
"Ouch. I'm so smart," she muttered as she got up and dusted herself off. She looked about her room.
It was split into two sides. One side was black, Dawn's side, and the other side was a moonlit forest, Cassandra's side. Dawn's side was plain except for a poster from the musical Into the Woods. Dawn was obsessed with musicals. She had a bookcase filled with soundtracks and books about musicals. Everything else was black or a deep, dark red.
Cassandra's side was an enchanted forest that actually changed colors with the seasons. It occasionally got animals in it too. It was never the same twice, except it was always night. She had oak furniture and a plain Muggle bedspread. She had a bookcase packed with fantasy books, adventure books, mystery books, school books and photo albums.
Cassandra levitated her trunk over to herself and opened it. She packed her school supplies and other necessities. She went to her closet and got out an elegant, black silk cloak and placed it in the trunk. She didn't know where or when she got the cloak. All she knew is that it was old and she had it forever. The last thing she packed in her trunk was her diary.
"Phew!" she said as she closed the lid and wiped sweat off her brow. The walked over to the window and opened it. Then she got Sharmaine's cage and opened the door. Sharmaine, when she got back from her night hunt, would go into the cage. It was a yearly ritual. Sharmaine only went into her cage when it was time to go to or to leave Hogwarts.
Suddenly Dawn came running into the room. "Cass, I'm scared." She flung herself into Cassandra's arms.
"What's wrong?"
"Auntie Eve got me a new owl." She pointed to the door where a snowy owl was caged. "And she said to write to her a lot. Then it dawned on me that I would be going away for a whole year!"
"Don't be silly. Milo and I do it all the time. Trust me, when you get there, you'll never want to leave."
"Why?" Dawn asked, unconvinced.
"It becomes you home."
"But I live here."
"Just trust me."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because I said so."
"That's not an answer! Why?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because I'm older and you're acting like Arabella. Now stop."
Dawn let go of Cassandra and stood shaking before her. "I'm still scared."
"You'll be back for Christmas break and Easter break."
Dawn smiled. "Is that all?"
"Yes, but you won't want to leave."
"Ok."
"What did you name your owl?"
"Her name is Aldara. It's Greek for 'winged gift'."
"I see her name suits her. She's a bird and she's a gift. I like it."
"Thanks."
"Now get ready for bed. We have a big day tomorrow."
"Ok."
Cassandra smiled as Dawn climbed into her nightshirt and got into bed. Aldara was still in the doorway but she didn't worry about her.
Everything was going to be fine, except for that one thing.
"Come on!" Cassandra tugged on Dawn's black shirt. "We're going to be late."
They were at the London train station trying to make their way through the crowd to platform 9 ¾.
Cassandra shoved her trolley at people's heals to get them to move. If they didn't move she would shout things like, "Get out of my way you lazy old hag!" or "This isn't the line convention!" or "I think I just saw a snail speed by." Or even better "Get the bloody hell out of my way you damn sons and daughters of bitches."
Dawn, who was right behind Cassandra, tired not to pay attention to her cousin's calls. Poor Milo was still lost in the crowd.
Finally the got to the spot between platforms 9 and 10.
"You know what to do?" Cassandra asked Dawn.
"Yes, I've seen you and Milo do it lots of times."
"Ok, get running."
Dawn nodded. She got a running start and disappeared through the wall. Cassandra ran right after her.
Once inside Cassandra was attacked by Helena and her vice like hugs. "I missed you! Come on, I got us a compartment. Oh, hi Dawn. Is it ok if I steal your cousin for awhile?"
"Sure."
"Great. Anyways Cassandra, I saw this really hot guy…"
Cassandra and Helena walked off leaving Dawn alone to find her way in the train. She sighed and walked with her head bent.
"Ouch!" she said as she bumped into something. She fell with a hard thump to the floor. She looked up and saw a cute boy with flaming red hair and freckles over the bridge of his nose.
"Sorry, didn't see you there." The boy said.
"It...it's fine," Dawn stumbled as she tried to get up.
"Let me help you, kid." He reached down for her hand.
She stared at his hand for a moment before clasping it. It was warm, but not too warm. It felt right…
He tugged her up and smiled, showing all of his perfectly straight, white teeth. "All right. Say, what's your name?"
Still holding his hand, she replied, "S...s...Sanderson. I...I mean, Dawn Sanderson."
He shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Dawn Sanderson. My name's Ron Weasley."
"Ron Weasley? Aren't you one of Cassandra's friends?"
"Sort of. Are you her sister? You look nothing alike."
"I know. She's my cousin." Dawn said with more confidence.
"Nice. Listen kid, you should probably find a compartment. I would offer you to sit with Harry, Hermione and me, but you know us sixth years. We don't want to be seen with first years. Of course there are exceptions…"
"Then why are you speaking to me?"
"I'm not like most sixth years."
Somewhere came the shout of, "All aboard?" and then the train started moving.
"Guess I better help you find a compartment now."
"Sure." Dawn looked down at her hand, which was still holding his, and flushed with color. She let go as her heart beat rapidly.
Ron ruffled his hair and laughed, embarrassed. Then he turned around as someone called his name.
"Hey Harry, mate." Dawn looked pass Ron to see a black haired boy with glasses covering handsome green eyes standing halfway out of a compartment.
"Stop flirting with younger students and get your arse inside. Mione's got news about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She says it's a girl."
"Be there in a sec, mate."
Harry shrugged and went inside.
Ron turned back to Dawn and looked her in the eyes. "I'll help you find a compartment now."
Dawn smiled as shivers were sent up her back. "Ok."
They walked until they came to a compartment with the door open. They peeked inside and saw only one person. She was sitting to the seat closet to the wall reading a book called Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith. She had black hair that was pulled into French braids that fell to her waist.
Ron pushed Dawn inside and whispered in her ear, "I'll leave you two to get acquainted." He left, but not before giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
Dawn sat down, nervously, across from the girl. "Er, hi. Can I sit here?"
The girl looked up from her book and fixed her blue eyes on Dawn. "Hi, and yes you can. It seems everyone else has already got a friend that they know, except me."
"I guess we're in the same boat. Or, compartment."
They laughed quietly.
"My name's Dawn Sanderson."
"Callia Polyxena."
"Interesting name."
"I'm ¾ Greek and my name is Greek. It means 'beautiful voice'."
"Do you sing?"
"A little bit." Callia lowered her eyes modestly.
"That's nice."
Silence. You could cut the tension with a knife.
"So…" Dawn said finally, breaking the awkward pall.
"So, you nervous. About Hogwarts, I mean."
"A little. You?"
"Ditto."
"What do you like to do?"
"Read and sing. You?"
"I like to write poetry." What was up with that? She just told a complete stranger her passion.
"Neat."
"Yeah."
"So what do you think of…?"
The girls soon became fast friends but they didn't know that fate would tear them apart.
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Cassandra was sitting talking to Helena when Harry walked in.
"Mind if I join you two lovely ladies? Ron and Hermione went off to do Prefect duties."
"Not at all." Cassandra replied.
"Have a seat." Helena said as she pat the seat next to her.
"Thanks." He sat down.
"I was trying to explain to Helena what a movie theater was."
"I just don't get it." Helena lived in the Wizarding World unlike Harry and Cassandra.
"It's ok. A lot of wizards and witches don't get things from the Muggle World." Harry said. He put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "So why were you telling her this?"
"I went to the movies with Dawn over the summer and she kept asking me if I saw that part. I felt like saying to her, "No you arse head. I paid nine dollars to get in here so I could just stare at the frigging ceiling. What did you come here for?" Of course Brett was sitting next to me so I couldn't say anything."
They all burst into laughter.
"And then we went shopping. Dawn kept pointing to her wrist while asking for the time. I was like "I know where my watch is, where the hell is yours? Do I point to my crotch when I ask where the bathroom is?" Brett, of course, pulled his brotherly act and scolded me for using the word hell. Then I told him where to go. He got made but it was worth it. His face was priceless."
They were all laughing to hard they were close to tears.
Cassandra continued her story, "Then on the way home, we went in a car—"
"What's a car?" Helena asked.
"—and we got pulled over by the cops. The policeman asked if we knew how fast we were going. I was thinking to myself, "You should know asshole; you were the ones who pulled us over." Then we finally got home and Milo had just finished repairing a book and he was like, "There, new and improved." I asked him, "Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it is an improvement, then there must have been something before it." Then, of course, Milo got mad and started yelling and me. Mum came in and grounded me for the rest of the night. But I later snuck out to the forest until Brett caught me. Then the funniest thing happened. When we got back to the house, we found Dawn knitting! With pink and purple yarn!"
"Dawn kitting?" Harry burst into laughing tears.
"With pink and purple?" Helena wiped a tear.
"This is too rich!"
"You can't tell anyone though. Dawn would surely bit my arse off." Cassandra said solemnly.
The other two stopped laughing. "Yeah she would."
Cassandra looked at them sadly. "Since we are all one a serious note now, I want to tell you something. You see, I just found out the truth about myself. I'm—"
"Hiya!" Ron said as he opened the door. "Just making rounds and wanted to tell you lot to get changed. We're almost there." Then he left.
"Bye Harry." The girls chorused.
"Bye Helena. Bye Cassandra. I'll be back in about ten minutes." He left too.
The girls quickly changed and soon Harry was back. Before anymore words could be exchanged between them, the train stopped.
"We're here!" students shouted from every corner of the train.
Cassandra looked out the window and muttered to herself. "My only home. I just can't see them again. Not after I found out."
The students (minus the first years) got into the carriages and slowly made their way to the castle.
Cassandra was sitting with Hermione, Helena, Harry and Ron. They were talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Cassandra was half heartedly listening because she was thinking about what Eve had told her last night.
"Cassandra? Hello? Anyone home?" Helena knocked on her head until it hurt.
"Ouch! Yes, I'm here. I was just thinking."
"Knot for your thoughts?" Harry asked.
"I have bad news. Eve—er—Mum told me last night."
"Well, what is it? Spit it out." Ron said impatiently.
Cassandra spit out the gum she had been chewing.
"Very cute," Hermione said sarcastically.
"Really, what is it?" Harry asked.
Cassandra looked each one of her friends in the eye. She was nervous to tell them. How would they treat her after she told them? Would her life ever be the same? Cassandra shook her head as if to shake away her second thoughts.
"Cat got your tongue?" Helena shook her slightly.
"Sorry, I just—I don't know. I don't know if I should tell you lot."
"You can tell us anything." Harry said cheerfully.
"Trust us." Hermione said.
Cassandra smiled slightly as she shuddered away. "You guys sound like I'm going to be taken to Azkaban or something. Then you are trying to persuade me to drink some "water" even though it is really snake venom and I shall die right away."
"Stop straying from the subject. What's up?" Hermione asked, trying to keep her cool.
"You see, I…I…I…am," Cassandra took a deep breath. "Adopted."
A/N: Finally! The truth gets out! How are her friends to respond to this? Find out next chapter along with the sorting of the Houses! Which one will Dawn wind up in?
I would like to say that I kinda liked this chapter.
And I would like to say: Happy Easter! Don't get fat off chocolate bunnies and peeps! Caution: Don't eat the shell of the colored eggs…
Please hit that colored box below and REVIEW! Please.
Have a safe and happy Easter!
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