Chapter 4 It's Time For Some Life Changes
As I entered my room Barnabas happily hooted and fluffed his wings.
"Barnabas!" I said happily.
He did a little hop across my desk. He knocked my ink bottle over and it spilled over.
"Barnabas!" I said again, this time more out of shock and fright.
He flew off the desk in fright as I tried to catch my ink. There was a huge mess and thankfully it didn't get on the letter I still had laying there.
"Barn, it's okay." I said as I pulled out my wand.
With a wave and a "Scourgify!" I got the ink mess cleaned up and my desk back in order.
Barnabas ruffled his feathers at me when I tried to pet him.
"I'm sorry! That was a letter and I didn't want to rewrite it." I said sheepishly.
Barnabas glared at me for a moment, then he nipped at my finger gently.
"Thank you. I missed you too." I said, petting him.
Ariel meowed from the bed and gave a stretch.
"I know. I need to play with you more." I walked over to her and gave her chin some scratches.
"Feeling up to another trip?" I asked Barnabas.
When I looked at him he had put his head under his wing and was cooing quietly. I giggled got up off the bed to refill his food and water bowls.
"When you're ready it should be the last one before Harry's birthday, I promise." I patted his feathers and got ready to go down and eat something for dinner.
The next morning, Barnabas was nipping at my fingers impatiently.
"I'm up! I'm up!" I sat up, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
Ariel stretched out where she was laying down on the bed. I gave her a playful glare as Barnabas hopped around the bed in excitement.
"It's six in the morning! Why-?" I started to grumble under my breath as I rolled up my letter to Sirius and Barnabas flew onto my shoulder.
"I guess when you're ready, you're ready." I shook my head as Barnabas hooted in my ear.
"I'm sorry. I just want to sleep." I smiled sheepishly as I wrapped the letter around his foot.
He gave me a nip on the ear and took off when I opened the window.
I sighed as I watched him fly into the morning sky. It was already sunny since the sun rose early in the sky. I stood there, enjoying the peace of the morning. With the cars of London honking and the kids screaming through the streets. It was peaceful.
I knew my life was going to be destroyed once that letter reached the Ministry.
I was wandering around Diagon Alley after lunch. I really didn't want to be cooped up in the inn room. I just wanted to enjoy not being stared at for a bit longer. I was a familiar face around Diagon Alley so when I was being looked at, it didn't bother me. But everyone was friendly this time…
Once word gets out that I'm the daughter of Sirius Black… Nothing is going to be same.
Something flashed in the corner of my eye and I looked down the Knockturn Alley entrance. There was a flash of dark hair and a pair of jeans turned the corner.
I looked both ways and shrugged before following the muggle clothed person.
'Where o' where are you going?' I thought as the flash of dark hair became a tall man.
From the back he was wearing jeans and it looked like a plaid button shirt.
He turned several corners and I knew I was going to be lost. He probably also knew I was following him. So I didn't try to hide that I was behind him.
When he made a right turn I stopped. His footsteps had stopped, but a door had opened and didn't sound like it had closed. I took a breath and turned the corner.
"Oh!" I gave a noise of surprise.
"Are you wanting something?" The man had two lip piercings in his lower lip, his eyebrows were both pierced and his nose was pierced on both sides.
"Yes." I grinned at him.
"Come on in, lassie." He gestured for me to go through the door.
"Thank you. I am sorry for following you. I just had the feeling I should." I said.
"You have a gift. And I believe I know what you're here for." He gave me a friendly grin and walked over to a cabinet and pulled out an assortment of jewelry.
"A nose piercing?" I asked, looking at his nose.
"Lassie, do you read minds?" He put a hand to his heart and winked at me.
"No. I hope not." I said as I looked at the different nose studs and rings.
"I agree. Reading minds is a terrible gift if you don't know how to control it." He agreed as I picked out a red jeweled corkscrew style nose stud.
"What is your name?" I asked as I pulled out my money bag.
"Oliver." He smiled at me and pulled out his wand.
With a flick, a long needle, cotton balls, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, gloves, and a little metal tray flew through the air and settled themselves down next to two chairs.
"My name is Cassie." I smiled back as he gestured to the long chair that could adjust to a table.
"Okay Cassie, is this your first time get a piercing?" He asked, putting on gloves and starting to sanitize the nose stud and needle.
"Yes." I nodded.
"Then I have to warn you. It's going to hurt and you cannot touch it while it heals. You have to leave this stud in for four months. If you absolutely have to change it you should come back to me and I'll change it for you." He said, his voice taking on a serious tone.
"Don't change for four months. Got it." I gave a big nod and he turned to me.
"It will need to be cleaned every day, twice. I recommend doing it when you clean your face in the morning and just before you go to bed." He said, setting the nose stud on the papered tray and holding the needle.
"Don't change the nose piercing for four months. Clean it twice a day. What should I clean it with?" I eyeballed the needle.
"With a saline solution. It's a mixture of salt and water, I have a bottle I can give you at the end." Oliver answered.
"Alright. Do it." I gave myself a shake and pointed my nose at him.
"Before I do. Take this quill and mark where you want it." Oliver gestured to a quill that had appeared on the tray and a hand mirror.
I picked up the mirror and moved my face from side to side. I was right hand dominant, and when I slept in Professor Binns class I usually slept on the left side of my face. But once I get used to my new piercing I should be able to sleep just fine on it.
I looked at Oliver's pierced nose and he showed me both sides. He had two studs on his left side and just one on his right. I looked at the placement of it and made a little dot on my left side.
"Are you sure that's where you want it?" He asked as I put the mirror and quill back down.
"Yes sir." I said as I took a deep breath.
"You'll be fine. It is going to pinch and your eyes are going to water. It's just your body reacting to the pain in your nose, it doesn't mean you're not a tough girl." He grinned at me and he sanitized my nose.
"Okay." I said, closing my eyes and stiffening my body.
There was a pinch in my nose and my eyes welled up even though they were closed.
"Ow." I said quietly.
"I know." Oliver said just as quietly as he removed the needle and something cold went into my nose.
"And there you are." He said.
I opened my eyes and blinked the tears away. Oliver was holding the mirror for me as he waved his wand and cleaned up the bloody cotton balls and the needle. I took the mirror and grinned.
My nose was red from the newest addition but the stud looked really cool.
"Thank you." I smiled brightly at him.
"You're welcome Cassie." He smiled back at me as he walked me to the door.
"How much do I owe you?" I asked, reaching into my money bag.
"Well, I'm assuming you go to Hogwarts and will be wanting more nose jewelry so why don't you browse for now and when I come back with your saline solution we'll go from there." Oliver pointed me to a showcase with different nose jewelry.
He disappeared behind a door and I heard him rummaging in a back room. I looked at the different cases of rings and studs. I already had my eye on the emerald, sapphire, and topaz studs. I was looking at a couple of black rings as well.
"Have you decided?" Oliver put a bottle of clear liquid on the counter and opened up the glass case.
"Yes. Can I have three of these black rings, two more ruby studs, three sapphire, emerald, and topaz studs please?" I pointed at the respective items.
"Why so many?" Oliver asked as he pulled out the showcases to reveal individual packages of the jewelry underneath.
"I may lose them so I want extra just in case." I said as I placed my money bag on the counter between us.
"Sounds like a fair plan to me." Oliver nodded in agreement and pulled out all that I wanted.
"How long before I should come back and get another piercing?" I asked, seeing some strange shaped piercings with dangling items.
"Easy there lassie. Before you come in here asking for everything to get pierced, why don't you take a bit a think about what you want next and if you really want it." Oliver held a hand up as he laughed.
"Sorry." I said sheepishly.
"Let's get you settled. Everything's going to be about ten galleons, eight sickles, and nine knuts." Oliver typed into the register at the side of the counter.
I counted out my thirty three galleons, sixteen sickles, and five knuts.
"Um. Here's eleven galleons for everything. And here's two galleons for a tip." I handed him my money with a grin.
He blinked at the galleons I was trying to hand to him.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yes. I like you. And I will be coming back." I said as I smiled at him.
"Well, thank you lassie." He gave me a suspicious look and took the money.
"Honestly. My father is in Azkaban and the Ministry is about to find out who I am, and this may be my last good interaction with someone I don't know… And if I do want more piercings, I don't want you to turn me away because of my lineage." I explained as he put my purchases into a small brown bag for me.
"Who's your father?" Oliver asked.
"Sirius Black." I answered.
He paused and looked at me.
"Sirius Black? Wasn't he a follower of the Dark Lord?" He asked cautiously.
"To be honest. I don't really know. I just found last year, and I only found one article about him and I didn't like what I read. I wrote him a letter and I'm waiting for a reply from the Ministry since I'm sure they're going to scrutinize everything I do. And the Daily Prophet is going to have a field day with that information alone." I shrugged slowly.
"Huh." Oliver said as he slid the bag across the counter.
"Yeah." I nodded as I picked the brown bag off the counter.
"I recommend coming in two to three weeks from now for your next piercing." Oliver said as I took a step towards the door.
"Thank you!" I said in excitement.
"Remember to think about what you really want!" He called.
"I will!" I called back just as I left and closed the door behind me.
The unfamiliar darkened alley met my gaze.
"Right. I am not in Diagon." I said to myself as I tried to remember which way I was supposed to go.
"Well… I'm going to hope for the best." I nodded to myself and turned left and hoped for the best.
I do not know how long I wandered for, but I definitely did not know where I was. There was a witch on the side that was trying to sell innocent looking candles but they gave off a bad vibe. I avoided her as best as I can but I kept turning the same corner and seeing her in the same spot.
My nose was sore, my nerves were starting to get too much, and I just wanted to go back to Diagon Alley to get some ice cream.
"Are you lost, dear?" A kind female voice asked behind me.
I jumped and turned. A pale woman with silvery blonde hair blinked slowly at me.
"Y-yes ma'am." I stuttered.
"Where are you trying to go?" She held a hand out for me.
"Diagon Alley." I stared at her hand cautiously before I took it.
I didn't get any bad vibes from her, thankfully.
"I can take you there." She said kindly, cupping my hand into her elbow.
"Thank you, ma'am." I said gratefully.
She was wearing a soft black dress that flowed from her waist beautifully.
"Narcissa, darling!" A familiar male voice called from behind us.
"Lucius." The woman turned us around.
Draco and his father started walking towards us and I had to do a double take. Draco had gotten his father's shade of hair, but he had his mother's cheekbones.
"Zwart." Draco glared at my hand in his mothers elbow.
"Hello Draco." I nodded kindly to him.
"Draco, do you know this young lady?" His mother asked.
"Lucius, this is Cassiopeia. The metamorphmagus we've discussed before." Lucius grinned at me.
His smile was empty.
"Cassie!" Narcissa seemed to gain a little bit more light in her eyes.
"That's me. Sorry I was going to introduce myself, but Mr. Malfoy beat me to it." I said with a light laugh.
"What on earth are you doing in Knockturn Alley?" Narcissa asked, leading me and her family through the twists and turns.
"I followed a guy, and got my nose pierced Mrs. Malfoy." I answered, looking up at her for her reaction.
Draco's steps faltered, I felt Mr. Malfoy's gaze on the back of my head. Mrs. Malfoy turned to head to look down at my nose.
I blinked up at her.
"I see, and I notice you got the ruby to represent your house." Mrs. Malfoy grinned down at me.
I blinked a couple of times before my grin broke my face, "I also have an emerald, a sapphire, and a topaz; I got those to show my support during the other Quidditch games when Gryffindor won't be playing." I admitted.
"I see. And did you have a guardian give you permission to get that?" She asked as we turned another corner and I saw the bright street of Diagon Alley.
"The foster home I usually stay in had a few more orphans join. And since I'm usually gone for school I gave up my room for those who needed it more than I did. And so I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron until the start of term." I explained.
Once that information was out of my mouth I paused. I closed my eyes and regretted everything leading up to that point.
"You're staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" Draco was the one to ask.
"I-" I paused, I wasn't sure what to say.
I had already gave them more information than I should have shared.
"Do you not have anyone you can stay with?" Mrs. Malfoy asked as we stopped at the entrance into Diagon Alley.
"Uh - I would have asked," I paused. "I would have stayed with the Weasley's but they're going to Egypt and I don't want to intrude on their family trip." I finally answered.
"What about Granger?" Draco asked.
"She's also on a trip. And Harry's trying to stay out of trouble where he is. So I'm just staying at the Leaky Cauldron." I tapped my nose.
I hissed from the pain and then I looked up at Mrs. Malfoy who was staring at her husband.
"Would you like to stay with us for the rest of the summer?" Mrs. Malfoy turned to me.
I watched Mr. Malfoy and Draco. Draco wasn't able to keep his emotions schooled like his father. But it was obvious he did not want me to be at his house. For any reason.
"Thank you, but I'm okay staying at the Leaky Cauldron." I nodded my thanks Mrs. Malfoy.
"Are you sure? We have plenty of room at the manor." This time it was Mr. Malfoy who spoke.
"I'm sure. Tom has been keeping an eye on me, and I've been responsible for myself for as long as I could remember." I said, pulling my arm out of Mrs. Malfoy's grip.
"I don't suppose there is anyway I could persuade you?" Mrs. Malfoy asked, the look she gave me made me feel uneasy.
"No there isn't." I shook my head.
"If you change your mind, just send a letter and we'll come and get you, Cassie." She smiled kindly at me.
"Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy." I nodded my head. "Good-bye Draco, I'll see you at Hogwarts." I managed to get away from the Malfoy family.
'That was weird.' I shivered to myself as I walked past Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
I paused for a second, but decided against getting some ice cream and I went back to the Leaky Cauldron. I had done enough wandering for the day.
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