Chapter 32 Dead Rat

I was back to being friends with everyone. Once Hermione saw that Harry and I were joking around again, she threw herself into her studies, and sometimes I would join her in the library to help with Buckbeak's case for Hagrid. I never went to Hagrid's hut, as I didn't want to be seen all over the grounds in. Which was tricky since I had started to take more time to visit with Sirius. And we had agreed that I was going to bring him food once a week and we would talk.

"Remus is teaching you two how to perform the Patronus Charm?" He asked through a mouthful.

"Yeah. So far Harry is struggling with his, because he can hear his parents last moments, and he's conflicted about that. But I can't seem to have a strong enough memory to make a corporeal one. But I don't have the same issue as Harry does." I answered, taking a bite of the food I brought.

"Show me what you can do." He said, gesturing to the open space.

"Really?" I asked, unsure.

"Yeah! Show me what you can do!" He gestured again.

I slowly stood up, putting down my roll.

"You're not going to try and steal my wand, are you?" I asked, walking a few steps from him.

"No." He answered, his voice serious.

"Okay." I nodded.

I pulled out my wand and thinking of the nights where Harry and I come back from Quidditch practices.

"Expecto Patronum!" I waved my wand.

The silver fog I can produce moved, and you can tell it was trying to take shape, but it wasn't strong enough.

Sirius applauded me.

"Do you want to have a try?" I asked, holding my wand out to him.

"What?" He asked.

"Do you want to have a go?" I repeated, this time walking up to him.

"Do - do you trust me?" He asked, eyeing the wand.

"I am taking a big step towards that." I answered.

He looked from the wand to me and stood up before taking it slowly.

"If you take my wand -"

"I won't." Sirius said quickly.

There was a small smile on his face as he held the wand.

"Has it really been twelve years?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure they've snapped my old wand by now." He sighed.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"It's okay. It's part of the process." He said.

He took two slow steps away from me. He closed his eyes and for a moment, he looked at peace. The wind blowing a breeze through his hair, and a small smile on his face.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A beautiful silver stag bursted out of the tip of the wand. I gasped in awe at it and it pranced around the clearing, leaving a silver mist behind. And just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.

"What happened?" I turned around.

Sirius was on the ground and he had tears in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked, walking over to him.

He didn't move for a while. But his hand was outstretched with my wand sitting in the palm of his hand.

I took it away but I placed it away from us, and I did something that surprised us both.

I hugged him.

I'm not sure how long we stayed in that position, but he did sit up and he did properly hug me back.

"My patronus is supposed to be a dog." He finally said, wiping his tears away from his eyes.

"Supposed to be?" I asked, letting him go.

"I didn't think it would happen to me but there's a chance of your patronus changing when you have something emotionally shocking happen to you. It has to be a strong shock." He explained.

"You did live in Azkaban for twelve years." I shrugged.

Sirius let out a bark of a laugh.

"That was James' patronus. It makes sense why it's his." He said.

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say.

I was tapping my homework absentmindedly. Sirius had told me about the patronus of his and his friends.

"Cassie." Ron snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Sorry." I blinked myself back into the present.

He was pointing at Wood who had joined us at our table.

"Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She - er - got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first." Wood shook his head in disbelief as I stifled a giggle.

"Honestly, the way she was yelling at me… you'd think I'd said something terrible… Then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it…" He screwed up his face and imitated her, " 'As long as necessary, Wood,' … I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom, Harry. There's an order form at the back of Which Broomstick… you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."

"I'm not buying anything Malfoy thinks is good." Harry said flatly.

"My broom is still an offer." I said.

Wood nodded and walked away.

"Thank you, Cassie. I may need it." Harry nodded.

"That's fine. You should start practicing on it so that you can get the feel. I read somewhere the broom molds the flight pattern of its rider. So Lancelot is used to me." I said.

Harry and Ron both nodded as they listened to me explain brooms.

Harry had taken to asking McGonagall about his Firebolt, and I would be there when he asked. I still hadn't told him or Ron about the second Firebolt, and I think McGonagall knows. I don't know how, but that's what I think.

Our lessons with Lupin weren't going so good for Harry either. He managed to conjure something, but it only kept the dementor at bay.

"You're expecting too much of yourself." Lupin said sternly at one practice. "For a thirteen-year-old, even an indistinct Patronus is a huge achievement. You aren't passing out anymore, are you?"

"I thought a Patronus would - charge the dementors down or something," Harry said, "make them disappear -"

"The true Patronus does do that," Lupin nodded as I walked over to Harry. "But you've achieved a great deal in a very short space of time. If the dementors put in an appearance at your next Quidditch match, you will be able to keep them at bay long enough to get back to the ground."

"You said it's harder if there are loads of them." Harry pointed out.

"I have complete confidence in you, and from what I gather of Cassie, you both will be able to hold them off. She won't let you face them alone if she can help it." Lupin gestured to me.

I gave a snarky grin and a wink at Harry. He laughed at patted my shoulder.

"That's why I wanted the two of you to be here. But you two have earned a drink - something from the Three Broomsticks. You won't have tried this before -"

He pulled out three bottles of a yellow liquid out of his briefcase.

"Butterbeer!" Harry responded. "Yeah, I like that stuff!"

I gave a small noise and Lupin raised an eyebrow at us.

"Ron and Hermione brought him some, it was when we were having our fight. I haven't tried it yet." I covered.

"I see," Lupin said, though he looked suspicious. "Well - let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw, and Cassie's birthday." Lupin handed us the butterbeer.

We drank the butterbeer in silence. It tasted amazing.

"What's under a dementor's hood?" Harry suddenly asked.

Lupin lowered his bottle and thought for a minute.

"Hmmm… well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us. You see, the dementor lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon."

"What's that?" I asked.

"They call it the Dementor's Kiss," Lupin's lips made a twisted smile. "It's what dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and - and suck out his soul."

"What?" I gasped.

Harry spat out some his butterbeer.

"What - they kill -?"

"Oh no," Lupin shook his head. "Much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no...anything. There's no chance at all of recover. You'll just - exist. As an empty shell. And you soul is gone forever… lost."

I stared at my butterbeer, not wanting to give anything away.

"It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the dementors permission to perform it if they find him." Lupin added.

My heart froze, and I stopped breathing for a second. I took a drink of my butterbeer and noticed the Lupin and Harry were both looking at me.

We sat in silence for a bit.

"He deserves it." Harry said suddenly.

"You think so?" Lupin asked lightly. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?"

"Yes." Harry answered in a defiant tone. "For… for some things…"

"What do you think Cassie?" Lupin asked, his tone even.

I took another drink of butterbeer.

"I don't know." I finally answered after some time.

Harry and I were walking back to the common room when he, literally, crashed into McGonagall.

"Do watch where you're going, Potter!" She said.

"Sorry, Professor -" He apologized.

I noticed the two broomsticks in her hands and my face started to grin.

"I've just been looking for you two in the Gryffindor common room. Well, here they are, we've done everything we could think of, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with them at all. You've got a very good friend somewhere…"

Harry's jaw dropped and I reached for my Firebolt.

"You got one too?" He asked.

"Yeah, I gave mine to Minnie because I thought Black had sent me mine. But I don't have any proof, so better safe than sorry." I said as he reached for his.

"I daresay you'll need to get the feel of them before Saturday's game won't you? And Potter - do try and win, won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night…"

"We will, Professor, thank you!" I said as we walked back to the common room.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a Firebolt?" Harry asked.

"You weren't talking to me, remember?" I said, rolling my eyes at him.

"Oh - right - sorry." He said sheepishly.

"It's okay." I laughed.

We didn't get to say anything else. We turned a corner and Ron was dashing towards us, grinning from ear to ear.

"She gave it to you? Excellent! Cassie why didn't you tell us you had one too?" He said at once.

"Didn't really get a chance too." I smiled.

"Can I still have a go on it?" Ron asked, turning to Harry.

"Yeah...anything…" Harry said absentmindedly. "You know what - we should make up with Hermione… She was only trying to help…"

"Yeah, all right." Ron said, "she's in the common room now - working, for a change -"

Ron was looking at the differences between mine and Harry's brooms when we came up to Sir Cadogan and Neville.

"I wrote them down!" Neville was close to tears. "But I must've dropped them somewhere!"

"A likely tale!" Sir Cadogan shouted.

Cadogan changed the password weekly, and Neville had written them down ahead of time so that he could remember them and get into the common room.

"Good even, my fine young yeomen! Come clap this loon in irons! He is trying to force entry to the chambers within!"

"Oh, shut up." Ron rolled his eyes when we got up to them.

"I've lost the passwords!" Neville said miserably. "I made him tell what passwords he was going use this week, because he keeps changing them, and now I don't know what I've done with them!"

"It's okay, Neville." I said, not making any sudden movements to him.

"Oddsbodikins," Harry told the portrait.

Cadogan looked disappointed and swung forward with reluctance. Letting us into the common room and there was excited murmuring and every head turned to see us.

"Where did you get it?"

"Who gave it to you?"

"Why didn't you say you had one Cassie?"

"Will you let me have a go?"

"Ravenclaw'll have no chance, they're all on Cleansweep Sevens!"

"Can I just hold it, Harry?"

Harry and I let our new brooms get passed around for ten minutes. Letting them get admired by everyone.

Wood came over to me with my broom.

"Why didn't you say you had one?" He asked, admiring the smooth twigs.

"I didn't want to get your hopes up in case mine was cursed." I answered.

"I'm going to see about getting you on as a chaser for Saturday's game, We're going to need the advantage." He said, handing me my broom back.

"Only if one of the girls are okay with it." I said, taking it back.

He nodded and walked over to the girls and started talking to them.

Harry walked over to me and we walked over to Hermione. She had made a fort of books on a table for all of her subjects.

"I got it back!" Harry showed her his broom.

"See, Hermione? There wasn't anything wrong with it!" Ron said gleefully.

"Well - there might have been!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "I mean at least you know that it's safe!"

"Hermione was only looking out for Harry's safety. Leave her alone about it." I said, giving Ron a pointed look.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Harry quickly spoke up before Ron could retort. "I'd better get it upstairs -"

"I'll take it!" Ron said eagerly. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic."

"I'll take mine up." I said.

I walked past Ginny who grinned at me and followed me up the stairs.

"Can I have a go at it?" She asked.

"Of course! Wood's got practice at five so if you come before or after you can ride my broom." I said as I entered my room.

I didn't see Crookshanks or Ariel in the bedroom.

'They must be visiting Snuffles.' I thought.

"I'm so excited!" Ginny said and sat down on the bed with me.

"Ginny?" I sat down next to her.

"Yeah?" She looked up at me.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm doing good." She answered, looking at me weirdly.

"No. Ginny, how are you doing?" I asked slowly.

I pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear and tapped her head.

"Oh!" She said, getting it.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"I'm doing okay. Some days I worry I'll forget where I've been and do something horrible." She admitted quietly.

"Have you had one of those days?" I asked.

"No, thank goodness." She shook her head.

"If it does every happen, you know you can trust me." I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed.

"I know." She leaned into my side.

We didn't get to enjoy the moment. There was a strangled shout from the common room.

"What was that?" Ginny asked, getting up and leading the way down the stairs.

Ron was shouting when we made it downstairs.

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"

"What is happening?" I got down and into the room.

"BLOOD!" Ron sounded weird. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

Ron was holding a torn up sheet, and it did have spots of blood on it. Ginny gave a gasp and I put my arm around her shoulders.

"It wasn't you." I whispered into her ear.

"N - no." Hermione's voice trembled.

He threw something down on the table and Ginny started to tremble.

"Ginny, you were with me when he found the sheet." I whispered.

"I know. I was in the common room the whole time since dinner." She whispered to herself.

"Exactly. It. Wasn't. You." I said.

I low-key wish that Rowling had gone more into Ginny and her year long spout with Voldemort. So I will try my best to portray what I wanted while trying to keep Cassie on her own adventures.

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Shout out to Awritingbookworm and Pamela Hutchins for leaving a review!

Awritingbookworm: Thank you! And at least, Hermione only told Cassie and not everyone else.

Pamela Hutchins: My heart broke writing it, but if I was in that situation, I would have that same thought process too.

Shout out to AveRomani for leaving a review on a different story of mine!