"This place is so cool!" Cassie smiled at Ron's exclamation as she stared at the house in front of her.
It had been three months since the war with Voldemort ended and she was tired, more tired that she should since she was barely seventeen. Granted, she had gotten used to the exhaustion over her life. Having grown up with the abusive muggle family that she had, it was kind of expected.
The source of her current exhaustion was the war combined with other events. After facing dementors at only thirteen, she had returned to the Dursley's and suffered with Vernon and Petunia's abuse and Dudley's bullying. Her fourth year had luckily been uneventful if you didn't count the dementors that almost killed her during the final Quidditch game of the year. But that game, had born unexpected blessings.
Cedric Diggory.
Her currently lost in time and probably dead soulmate.
They had learned of their bond while she was recovering from her fall of her broom during the game. One single touch of their hands and they knew. They sadly had to part that summer, just shortly after they started to get to know each other. They had kept in contact through letters that summer till they reunited at the Quidditch World Cup where she had also met his father.
When she returned to school they made their relationship public, much to the dislike of Cedric's psycho ex-girlfriend, Cho Chang. A few people flipped out about the age difference, her being fifteen and him seventeen and a legal adult. They didn't really have to deal with that too long with the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament.
After her name had come out of the Goblet, Cedric had been one of the few to believe that she hadn't put her name in, considering she had freaked the fuck out when he put in his, even if she had understood the reasons. He had lost it when she was forced to fight the dragon.
The night of the Yule Ball was almost perfect. They had danced and laughed and loved and the only incidents that occurred where Cho's utter freak out when they publicly kissed after the first dance and Ron and Hermione's drama. Shortly after he took her home to meet his parents and she spent Christmas getting to know his family. Amos and she had talked Quidditch for hours while Laura had dragged her shopping and into the kitchen for help with the baking.
Of course, being the sentimental idiot Cedric was, he was a little upset that they weren't each other's prize during the Second Task, Ron was hers and his best friend Sampson Harris, or Amp, was his. She had only laughed and reminded him that it would have ended up with her in danger of drowning which he would have flipped out at.
The months before the third task been them at their happiest. Peter Pettigrew had been spotted in public, though was not caught, and Sirius was brought to the Ministry for questioning. When the truth came out, he was cleared, and Pettigrew became the most wanted man in Britain instead. He had registered as a legal Animagus and had started filing the paperwork to get guardianship of Cassie, so she would only have to stay at the Dursley's for about a month.
The task ruined everything.
They originally split up till she was attacked by a possessed Viktor Krum. Cedric had stunned him and pulled her with him as they raced through the maze. When they reached the cup, he had begged her to take it, not caring about what his father would say but she decided they both would.
It had been all on her.
The cup had been a portkey and taken them to a graveyard. They had fought off several dark creatures together which was when he decided to unofficially propose. The ring he apparently had gotten was still in his dorm room, but he had asked, needing an answer before they got themselves into further trouble.
She said yes.
The creatures had eventually overwhelmed them and bound them. Peter Pettigrew had appeared and taken some of Cassie's blood to use in a ritual to bring back Voldemort. The bastard had come alive in front of her and then attacked them.
Using a spell in parseltongue, he stuck Cedric while she was busy fighting death eaters with a tongue that she only heard half of. He had disappeared in front of her causing her to release a blast of magical power that had overwhelmed her.
Voldemort and his followers fled while she was screaming. Crying, she had stumbled back to the cup and port keyed to the front of the maze.
Sirius caught her as she collapsed, screaming about Cedric's disappearance and Voldemort's resurrection. She had been dragged to the Healer's wing and looked over. A few hours later she had been attacked by Barty Crouch Junior who was posing as Mad Eyed Moody. He was taken away by the Aurors who had come to investigate, and the real Moody was found trapped in a tree trunk.
After getting out of the healer's ward, she told Dumbledore the full story of what had happened. From what she remembered hearing Voldemort say, they realized Cedric had been hit with a powerful time travelling spell. Since they didn't know how far he had been sent, they had no way of getting him back.
The school had held a memorial that she had numbly attended. While cleaning out his dorm, his parents had found the engagement ring and given it to her. After the ceremony, Viktor Krum swore a life debt to protect her in payment for attacking her during the final task.
That summer, last summer, she had been sent back to the Dursley's till the final paperwork could be put through to give Sirius her guardianship. In late June, just days before she could leave, Dudley and she were attacked by dementors on their way back to the house. She fought them off, but Dudley thought she attacked him and told Vernon and Petunia who beat the ever-living shit out of her before locking her in her old cupboard. When the Aurors arrived, they found her broken and bruised and sent her to St. Mungo's while they took the Dursley's to the Ministry.
Sirius had raved and ranted, as had Amos, Laura, Remus and his recently pregnant wife Tonks as the truth of her home situation came out along with the fact that Voldemort had turned her into a horcrux the day he killed her parents. Finding out that Dumbledore knew was an extra knife in the chest for them along with the fact that she was a pureblood. Her mother had been the missing daughter and last living heir to an old wizarding family in Ireland and had ended up in an orphanage where she was adopted by the Evans. Dumbledore also knew that piece of the truth and had neglected to tell them while he used her mother's paperwork to illegally draw money from her grandparents' accounts. This also meant the blood wards around the Privet Drive was fake and he had kept her there for no reason except to make her more controllable.
After a simple procedure with the best healers in Britain, they removed Voldemort's soul and destroyed it. Cassie got out of the hospital right before her birthday and testified against the Dursley's. Petunia and Vernon were sentenced to Azkaban while Dudley had his memories wiped of everything and was set up with a mortal family that knew about the Wizarding World. He currently thought they were his true parents and was doing quite well last time she heard.
At sixteen, she returned to Hogwarts with the entire Wizarding World on her side. She arrived and was immediately met by Draco and few of his Slytherin friends that's families were switching to the Light Side and needed help protecting them. Draco swore the same life debt Viktor did after she agreed.
The two boys started acting as her personal bodyguards as she helped the castle and Ministry prepare for the coming war. Despite losing the connection she had through her scar, they were able to find the other horcruxes and destroyed all of them except Nagini the snake.
During the final battle at the end of the year, Dumbledore and several others died while she fought and killed Voldemort. Ron, Draco, Hermione, and Neville killed Nagini. Fenrir Greyback was killed by Remus, Tonks, and Viktor. Sirius, Andromeda Tonks, and Narcissa Malfoy killed Bellatrix Lestrange.
The main problem with all of that was that the castle was pretty much destroyed with no hope of it being repaired in time for the next school year. Because of this, most of the students were sent to other magic schools in the area or homeschooled while the place was being built.
Certain people that had lost too much during the war were given another option. Under the joint care of Sirius, Professor Snape, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour-Weasley, Viktor Krum, and the Weasley twins, thirteen students who were influential in the war for many different reasons were given the chance to have three years of life in muggle America as normal kids till they were set to rejoin the Wizarding World as immortals due to a magical backlash on the spell they used to locate the horcruxes.
Cassie had been one of the first to agree, followed by Draco, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and Ginny. The main Slytherins that Cassie had protected also joined them which included Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott, and Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. All of them had to undergo rigorous muggle training so they were used to living life in the muggle world.
Now three months later, they were moving into their new house.
She had to agree with Ron, this place was cool. The elegant and sophisticated mansion they had built was hidden in the forest on the edge of the small town they were living in. Using cloaking spells, they were almost completely hidden from the muggles. A fully operating Quidditch arena and broom racing course was in the backyard along with a pool and greenhouse. The inside, which only she and Hermione had seen, had a game room, hot tub, mini theatre, training room, potions lab, library, and basically everything wizard teens and their guardians could want. All things related to their magical training and enjoyment were spelled to only be seen by other wizards and people they trusted.
They would be attending regular muggle school but would be homeschooling their magical studies. Most of them were already ready to pass their NEWTS and OWLS but it was better to get the actual practice and studying in.
Yes, she was starting to sound like Hermione a little too much.
Astoria and Daphne stood on either side of her as they stared at the elegant architecture. "It is nice." Tori whispered in her ear while her older sister smiled.
They entered the house together as a group. Since they had planned out the layout while still in London, they all knew where most everything was, even if most of them hadn't seen the house in person. All the bedrooms were on the second floor. The main floor held the kitchen, living room, dining room, spa room, library, and the main offices. The attic had been remade into an art studio, fashion studio, and music room. The hidden underground basement held the mini theatre, game room, potions lab, and training room.
They had designed their rooms before arriving, so they knew what to expect. The boys carried in their bags, Draco and Viktor bickered over who brought in hers like they always did before they all went to settle in. She had her room done in simple greys and golds with a little bit of purple to thrown in. The Marauder's Map was framed in her room, as was her parent's wedding photo and one of the Gryffindor flags. As the only living direct heir of Godric Gryffindor, the sword was also cased in her room.
She methodically put her clothes and personal items away before sitting on her bed and pulling out the necklace underneath her shirt. The sunlight coming through her window caught the diamond heart and the gems of the golden crown, causing little rainbows to bounce all over her room.
The necklace had been a Christmas present from Cedric. He claimed since she was his heart, she should wear a heart around her neck and the golden crown represented the fact that, whether she wanted it, she was the queen and leader of the students of Hogwarts. The four houses were each represented on the crown, one gem of each color.
She also had her ring on same chain. It was a small gold band that looked like a branch with small gold leaves but in the center was a small ruby. It was truly gorgeous, but Cedric had always spoiled her. Laura had told her that he had the ring custom made.
A soft knock on the door caused her stick both under her shirt again as she turned to see the door open and reveal her favorite Slytherin nowadays. Draco stared at her for a minute, making sure she didn't look to upset or alarming.
He was frustratingly good at reading her.
She smiled, and he seemed to buy the fact that she hadn't been delving down memory lane, at least at the second. "Sirius and Severus want to take us all to the high school and get our schedules. School starts tomorrow for all of us."
Of course, it did, but Mondays always sucked so she shouldn't expect anything less at this point. Shaking her head, she got up and made her way to the door. Just as she started to walk past, the blonde grabbed her left arm causing her to stare at him. "Are you sure you're okay?"
She sighed. "Probably not but isn't that why we're here? The fact that we all need to heal?"
He smiled sadly. "Yes, but if you need anything…"
She kissed his cheek. "I promise, I'll tell you."
For two people that used to be rivals, they were remarkably close now. Not as close as he might like sometimes, but they both knew that a romantic relationship was not for them, despite the traitorous feelings she knew existed on his end.
They rejoined the others and split into two groups. Severus drove the Slytherins in one SUV while Sirius drove Luna and the Gryffindors. While each of them had a car in the massive garage, it was easier to just drive in two cars.
The school was easy to find and not that big. The people at the front desk who were preparing for the new school year were more than happy to help them and flirted with Sirius while they did so.
Using the map, they were able to find where each class was and mapped out their routes. They were all split up into two different grades. Luna, Ginny, and Tori were the only sophomores while Cassie and the others were all juniors. Each building was set for a different type of class, so it was easy to figure out which building was what and luckily at least two people in their group would always be in the same building if not the same class.
Cassie herself was always with at least one other person in every class, something she wondered if it was just luck or planned.
The supplies list was simple, and they had all read most of the books required. Arithmancy was similar enough to the Algebra or Geometry that none of them were worried. Potions the same with Biology and Chemistry and they had all taken Latin and were practically fluent so that was their easy period. Most of them were Quidditch players or had physically trained enough for the war that PE was pretty much warm up for their afternoon DADA lessons, so everything was pretty much filler classes.
When they got back to the manor they all curled up in the living room and watched some old cartoon shows before they all went to sleep, already tired and school hadn't even started.
Hey guys! I know, two chapters within 24 hours.
I'm not going to promise anything like this again. I have other things on my mind, so I'll update this when I can!
Love you all,
mitkit99