A/N Hi Guys, Hope you're enjoying this so far. I have no Beta so I apologize for any mistakes that are made, I am self editing- but well you know how it goes. I am catching up to where i've written to for this story, but i've just gotten over a tough block, so hopefully we can make it Hogwarts in two chapters time. As always, please leave a review if you have any comments or critiques. Also, something to remember, through this chapter, which gets a bit dark, and through the next chapter where we get a glimpse into the way she thinks, this is a girl who really has no experience in a normal loving family. Her whole childhood is defined by outward violence at worst, and willful neglect at best. She has issues to say the least.

It took almost a month for Cassiopeia to adjust to her new situation, a month to regroup, and to adapt. The first step towards that adjustment was finding a new tape player. She was annoyed when it didn't just appear in her room, as it always had in the past. She eventually gave up trying and settled for stealing another one from a busy charity shop.

The second thing she recovered was a knife. This was a little bit more difficult to replace, but she managed to steal one from the back of a hardware store. The manager had seen her and chased her a few blocks, but ultimately she lost him in an area of woodland near the town.

Her dominance amongst the other children had been relatively easy to secure after that first night. The girl she had cursed, Rebecca, had been one of the bigger bullies in the home. The other children left her alone, and they learned very quickly to never mention her nightmares. Her new legal guardian had a very casual disregard for everyone under his roof, and very rarely kept track of her comings and goings. As far as he was concerned, her being absent meant he had to spend even less money on food for the children.

Her new school had no afterschool electronics club; in fact it had no clubs at all. She preferred to spend as little time as possible in the group home, so she spent most of her time either at the library, reading about muggle magic or exploring the woods that surrounded the whole village. She found a small river and a few natural clearings in the woods. She went there so often that she started collecting spare pieces of scrap metal and wood from around the town and created her own little club house. She called it Castle Lestrange.

When the weather was warm enough she would stay up in her castle, huddled under a few stolen blankets and listening to music on her player. It wasn't long that she was spending all of her free time up in the woods, safe in the confines of her self built castle. She fantasised about future additions to the castle and on Wednesdays, the day before rubbish was collected, she would dig through skips around town late at night, hunting for prime building materials. She found an uneasy peace in life, so long as she kept out of trouble and stayed out of the way, her guardian would ignore her existence. She was free to do as she pleased, and it pleased her greatly to hide in the woods.

For a while, Cassiopeia felt at peace for the first time in her life.

It was only later she would realise that she wasn't destined to live a peaceful life. It all started one day after school. She had been eyeing a shiny brass bell from a ship at an expensive antique shop. She had been watching the owner of the shop; she watched his patterns, when he got lunch, and how he locked up every evening, puzzling over the best way to get it. Normally she wouldn't dream of stealing something so expensive, or something so well guarded, but it called to her like a siren. She might've resisted the call if the shop owner wasn't such a slight man, using a cane. She had heard stories about the man; he was well connected and apparently quite rich. He must've been to have a name like Gold, but she figured that if he was so rich, maybe he wouldn't miss a tiny bell so much.

She figured a simple grab and run would be the best way to steal the bell, and it never occurred to her that as she had spent weeks observing the antique broker, he had been observing her. She was so used to being ignored, and being stronger and faster than everyone that the thought of hiding her actions had never even occurred to her. She was many things, but at ten and three quarter years old she was not a criminal mastermind.

She walked into the shop one day, nonchalantly nodding at the shop owner who quirked an eyebrow and spoke quietly into a phone. She pretended to browse, running her hand over several of the shiny trinkets he had on display. Normally these would have fascinated her, but she had only eyes for the bell, gleaming on a shelf. She glanced over at the counter where the owner was before and frowned when she noticed he was no longer there. Maybe he had gone into the back to check some stock she thought. Excitable at the prospect, she darted forward, grabbed the bell, turned, and ran straight into the shop owner who was lurking behind her.

"And just where do you think you are going dearie?" he grunted from the impact.

Her heart raced, panicked and she frantically squirmed against his grip. Knowing the shop owner used a cane; she threw a few kicks at both his legs, hoping to hit on an older injury. She was successful as he let out a mighty howl and loosened his grasp, and collapsed. She wasted no time, jumping over his prone body and running out of the shop.

She heard the wail of sirens behind her as a police car pulled outside of the shop moments after she exited. Her stomach flipped at the sound, and she looked behind her desperately, seeing two PC's exiting the vehicle and shouting at her to stop. She thought that she might be able to outrun them with the head start she had, frantically ignoring the heaviness of the bell in her arm. So focussed on the constables behind her she didn't notice the ones rounding the corner on bicycles until she nearly ploughed them down. They quickly dismounted, blocking her path and she looked around in a panic. Before she could decide what to do the constables caught up with her from behind and she felt them grab her. She was caught.

Her legal guardian was charming when he wanted to be; he showed up to the police station to pick her up and acted appropriately shocked and upset. He assured the police constables that she would be punished, and that she normally wasn't this unruly. Though the shopkeeper, Mr Gold didn't press criminal charges against her, he decided he also wouldn't sue for damages, on the condition she work in his shop without pay. She was surprised about his condition, but didn't really have a choice in accepting it.

When they made it back home her real punishment was swift and brutal. The door had barely closed when he attacked her. If she thought his previous treatment was bad, this took it to new levels. He yelled at her for being stupid, for being reckless, how she had cost him money and time. He emphasized his words with well-aimed kicks. He didn't stop until she was bloody and broken on the floor. She painfully took refuge in her bed, pointedly ignoring the gloating faces of the other girls in the room. Her punishment meant their minor infractions would go unnoticed.

She rolled over on the bed and stared angrily at the wall, resenting the tears falling down her face. Of course her parents had hurt her worse, but they also had potions and magic in that world. In this world her pain lingered, for days, sometimes weeks. He was generally quite exacting in his punishments, never leaving any lasting injuries, and never anything that could be seen. This time was different. She gingerly cradled her arm, gasping in pain. She felt nauseous and cold, and there was a deep ache in her arm that sharpened whenever she moved it.

The ache persisted for a few days, and the ache increased if she used her arm for anything. She started after school at the shop, volunteering. Gold had her cleaning, and she noticed he had removed the bell she tried to steal from his shop. They didn't speak much, he worked behind the counter, writing in a ledger most the day, and she tried to stay out of his way as much as possible.

"Is that really all you've managed to clean in" he paused to glance at one of the many clocks around the room, "three hours?" he remarked incredulously.

Cassiopeia glared at the shopkeeper, she had been working diligently, but it was hard with only one functioning arm. He eyed her carefully, sharp eyes catching the way she was favouring one arm over the other, how she held the mop in her left hand when he knew she was right handed.

"What's wrong with your arm." He snapped, irritated. She shrugged, turning back her pitiful job of mopping. He sighed loudly after watching her for a few moments. She was useless and obviously injured. "Come on, let's go to A&E." He reluctantly shut the shop early and drove her to the hospital.

And so Cassiopeia had her first real experience with muggle medicine. She found it absolutely barbaric. Her arm was broken in two separate places, and the doctors used a large, long needle to inject her with a sedative so they could place metal pins to set the bone. Because she had waited, they had to re-break sections of the bone that already started healing, to get it to set correctly. Then they put a monstrosity around her arm, a hard white cuff that they called a cast. It was itchy, uncomfortable, and annoying. Even more so when she was told she couldn't get it wet. How was she to shower? It was an abomination. She was horrified when they said she would have to keep it on for six whole weeks.

Her guardian kept a close eye on her after the police incident; she went directly from school to the antiques shop, where he would pick her up. Mr Gold always frowned when he saw him, but then Mr Gold frowned at everyone. Her guardian didn't care much for Gold either, always muttering dark things about him on the way back to the home. He would say he was a greedy old dragon, and a dandy to boot. He also made crass jokes about Mr Gold's sexuality. Once they reached the home he would lock her in a room, forbid the other children from talking to her, or even acknowledging her. After a few hours of boredom punishment every evening he sent her to bed, without food.

She hated the routine, but accepted it, not wishing to risk further discipline. She also knew a very important day was coming soon, a day that could potentially change everything for her. She was going to be eleven in a few short weeks, a day that heralded the invitation to Hogwarts, the finest wizarding school. She would get a wand, and would make contact with the world she was exiled from because of her parents.

It was a hope that kept her going every day, and in the darkest moments of the night she would even hope that maybe the Weasleys could help her. Could rescue her again. And if they didnt, she would have a wand. With a wand she could curse the man, reliably, and oh how she dreamt of doing that, of using the curses her mother had lovingly taught her. She fantastised about that, drifting off into a reluctant sleep.

Xxxx

She woke up on her eleventh birthday with a splitting headache and a feeling of nausea. She fingered her silver cuff, placed so many years before by her mother anxiously. She ate her pitiful breakfast quietly, keeping her head bowed and hiding beneath her curls. No letter had come for her in the regular post, though she doubted she would receive it if one did. A knot in her stomach tightened, and she abandoned her single slice of white toast and left for school.

She craned her neck to look outside the windows of the schoolhouse, searching for anything that might resemble an owl. She saw nothing unusual. She eyed everyone around her suspiciously, wondering if they were wizards in disguise. School ended with no strange sightings of the wizarding world, and she felt her mood start to darken.

She waited outside of school for her lift to the antique shop, angrily kicking at the gravel outside the school. Maybe the ministry did more than change her name, she thought nervously. Maybe they erased her whole existence, including her place at Hogwarts. She knew she was a witch; she had performed enough magic to be certain of it. She fiddled with a knife in her pocket, feeling sick. Maybe they found out about her crimes from when she was a child, that she had cast unforgivables. Maybe they decided that she wasn't fit to be a witch. Maybe she was stuck there forever, until her mother found her. She went back to fiddling with the silver bracelet nervously when her guardian pulled up in his car.

Her heart thundered when he grunted they were going back to house and not to the antiques shop she had robbed. He didn't offer any explanations and she didn't ask any questions. Adrenaline raced through her body as she followed him inside, wondering, hoping, that this would be it. This would be her return to the wizarding world. Hope turned to dismay when she first spotted Albus Dumbledore, casually sipping tea in the sitting room. Dismay turned to horror when she saw who accompanied him.

"No." she gasped, her airways starting to restrict

She shook her head, tears beginning to stream from her eyes unbidden, and she backed away slowly. There in front of her stood her mother, beautiful and deadly, dark curly hair was nicely combed, and she looked as if Azkaban had barely affected her, casually sipping tea with Albus Dumbledore. Albus glanced up at her entrance, looked briefly concerned, and stood to greet her. Cassiopeia turned and ran away, tears blinding her path.

"Cassiopeia!" she heard her mother yell after her and she forced herself to run faster, the run farther, to escape her. She wouldn't go back there, not again, she couldn't go back. She'd rather stay in her miserable existence with the muggles than go back.

Pavement turned to dirt as her feet traced a once familiar path, and it wasn't long until she found herself taking refuge in Castle Lestrange. She buried herself in blankets that had since gone stale, and she fumbled with her tape player, blindly putting in music and cranked up the volume, turning her cheap headphones into tiny speakers. She tried to still her breathing, and clutched her knife in her hand, adjusting and re adjusting her grip. She had to think, to plan through her next steps. She tried to focus on her music, on the sound of water flowing gently in the stream near her, on the leaves in the trees, and the birds in the sky. She tried to do everything to ignore the fact that someone had followed her, and they were walking up to her path now.

"I'm not your mother Cassiopeia." Her voice sounded different, but Bellatrix had always been good at pretending, tricking other people into believing crazy things. She shook her head, refusing to look her way, wishing she could disappear into the very fabric of her fort.

The person paused on the opposite side of the clearing, uncertain. "My name is Andromeda Tonks. I am your aunt, and I am definitely not like your mother Cassiopeia."

Cassiopeia hugged her legs to her chest, and anxiously bit the skin on her knees.

"We've been—I have been looking forward to meeting you since I found out about your existence. I wondered how the daughter of my sister could charm the Weasley's so."

She stilled, "you know the Weasleys?" her voice was small, strained, and she risked a glance at the woman. Her heart froze and she looked away just as quickly, she may not sound like her mother, but she looked like her.

Andromeda stood across the clearing, her hands raised in front of her in a placating gesture, "oh yes, Molly and Arthur Weasley are anxiously awaiting news about you. They've been searching for you for years Cassiopeia, and I promised them a visit as soon as we found you. Look, they even wrote you a letter. They said you might be frightened of me."

She sounded mildly annoyed at her last statement, but nonetheless Cassiopeia glanced up at the stranger who claimed to be her aunt. She was holding two envelopes in her hand. Noticing her suspicious glance, Andromeda continued, "one is from the Weasleys, and well, I think you've been expecting the other letter."

"Throw it to me. Don't come any closer." She hated how her voice trembled in fear.

The woman nodded, and complied. Her hands shook as she carefully opened the first one. Keeping half an eye on the woman who looked too much like her mother she read the contents of the letter. It was short, written in Mrs Weasley's delicate handwriting. It was simple, a quick introduction to the woman who was now kneeling across from her, and an invitation to come visit the Burrow at her earliest convenience. Her eyes burned when she saw it was signed with love from Mr and Mrs Weasley. The second was the letter she was expecting, acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; she felt a knot loosen slightly in her stomach at the sight of it.

She turned her attention back to her aunt, somewhat reassured about her identity by the Weasley's letter. "Take out your wand and show me your forearms. And stay over there" She croaked, her voice hoarse. She was still a little suspicious of this woman. The Weasleys could be wrong, and this woman was still related to her mother. Andromeda carefully removed her wand from her pocket, and tossed it in the girl's direction. She took off her sweater, revealing smooth, pale, unmarked forearms.

Cassiopeia relaxed slightly, "no knives?" Andromeda's breathing hitched at the question, her heart breaking at this girls fear and caution. "Ankles." The girl demanded, voice getting a little stronger.

Andromeda lifted her trouser legs, showing her simple shoes, her throat constricting as she wondered just what had happened to the girl to make her so afraid. Cassiopeia relaxed completely, satisfied that this woman was no immediate danger.

She sat back into her blanket pile and eyed the woman with curiosity, "so if you're not here for my mother, why are you here?"

Andromeda sat completely on the ground, crossing her legs and scrutinised the girl in front of her. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. She knew that Bellatrix wasn't the most nurturing mother, and she was warned that the girl was going to be skittish, but she was completely unprepared for the reality of the situation.

"I came to introduce myself, and maybe offer my help." Andromeda said softly

"How can you help me?" she asked bitterly, "people are always saying they are trying to help me, but they never do." She fiddled with her silver bracelet, wishing she could pull it off.

"Do you like it here Cassiopeia?" she asked suddenly. The girl looked away and shrugged.

"How did you break your arm? That is what happened right? To your arm?" she shrugged again, her face beginning to redden.

"What's it to you?" she finally bit out.

"I want to offer you a home, with me, my family. I have a daughter, she's at Hogwarts now, first year." She didn't have to look at Andromeda to know that she was smiling now, "her name is Nymphadora. And my husband Ted, he's muggleborn, so you can talk to him about your time in the muggle world, he can understand better than I can—"

"You are a blood traitor?" Cassiopeia interrupted, now looking at her aunt in a new light. It wasn't an accusation necessarily, but Andromeda stiffened all the same.

"Yes, I suppose some would say that. I love Ted, and he is a brilliant wizard. But it is also the reason why we are just now meeting; my sister forced us to go into hiding during the war. They had already placed you in a muggle home before we could do anything to stop it."

Cassiopeia was nodding in agreement with her assessment, "yes, she would've killed you if she ever found you. Your whole family. It would not have been quick or pleasant." It was very matter of fact, Andromeda found it mildly discomforting.

"It is ultimately up to you Cassiopeia, whether you want to come live with us, as a family. I am not going to make any decisions for you. That has happened enough in your life. You can go to Hogwarts wherever you choose to live."

Andromeda watched nervously as the girl quietly thought, she was staring up into the trees now, relaxing against a wall of the makeshift building. She had initially been worried that the child would be a mini-Bellatrix, but what she saw now could not have been further from that reality. The girl was small, far too small, even for her age. She was pale, had dark circles under her eyes, and was dwarfed by the roughly put together fort. It was obvious this was a special place for her; Andromeda could see piles of blankets, and the words 'Castle Lestrange' carefully written on a plank of wood that was haphazardly attached to the fort. She could hear the faint sound of music coming from the tape player she held closely to her chest. Her cast was a dirty grey, with strange creatures drawn across it in black. She frowned at the injury and the muggle solution, noting the girl never had answered her question, though judging from her appearance and from the house she had found her in, she had dark suspicions.

"What happened to my parents? They told me they were going on trial, but I never saw the result."

Andromeda was taken aback from the question; the girl was still looking up at the trees, watching the wind rustle through the leaves.

"They were sentenced to Azkaban, for life."

The girl nodded, "not to death?"

"No, we do not have the death penalty."

The girl snorted at that, "shame they changed their mind on that count. I saw many Aurors kill death eaters." She finally looked at Andromeda, who was speechless, chilled by the implications of her statement.

"If I go with you, you are risking your family's lives. You are a blood traitor, I may not care about that, but she will." She was very serious now, solemn and sad.

"She is gone Cassiopeia, she's never coming back, she wont be able to hurt you. To hurt us."

Cassiopeia smiled sadly and shook her head, "do you see this?" she gestured to her bracelet, perfect, seamless, and stuck. "She gave this to me, when I last ran away. She can use it to find me, no matter where I am in the world. No matter the wards in place, she will know my location. It's why I never ran away again, because anyone who would dare help me was signing their own death sentence. It's stuck; she is forever with me, haunting me. Do you understand?" Cassiopeia pulled her legs up to her chest again, curling into herself sadly.

"I understand." Andromeda said softly, cursing her sister. Cassiopeia buried her head, turning away from Andromeda. She hated herself for the tears that came so easily, but nodded in acceptance.

"My offer still stands, you can come home with us. The Weasleys are adamant that you visit as soon as possible. Even if you decide to stay here, they are insisting on that. You don't have to make your decision now, you can come and stay with us for a few weeks, see how you like it." Andromeda stood up, and started dusting the dirt and forest debris off her person.

Cassiopeia stared at her in shock, her mouth hanging open. "You said you understood." She said weakly. She hardly dared to believe the implications.

"I understand my sister can track you. Right now she is in prison. If the time comes that she is free, we can deal with those consequences then. But for now I suggest you think on what you want to do, not what your parents would want, what I want, or what anyone else wants." Cassiopeia opened her mouth to respond, but Andromeda held up a hand, stopping her.

"Think about it, take your time. Myself and Albus saw this lovely café in the city center, Red Apple, do you know it?" Cassiopeia let out a quick breath, her words dying on her tongue. She nodded hastily; she knew the place though had never gone inside.

"Come find us when you are ready, and remember, you can give us a try, Dora is coming home next week for Easter, so you can meet her if you decide to come with me for a few weeks." Andromeda gave her one last smile, slowly picked up her wand, and walked away from the clearing, leaving the girl to think.

Afternoon turned into early evening, Cassiopeia had curled up into her blankets, she had placed her headphones on, and she lost herself in music. She thought deeply about her next step, and found the choice almost overwhelming. She never had a choice before, over anything in her life, it was daunting. What if she made the wrong decision? Her aunt, the blood traitor, had promised that she could leave if she didn't like it at her home, she wondered about her husband, a mudblood her mother would call him. She had enough experience with muggles to understand that they didn't differ much from wizards in personality, but she always wondered about the differences in power. And she had a daughter, a year older than her, already at Hogwarts. She didn't really have a good track record with other girls, or other kids in general. There was nobody she really could ever call a friend, nobody except Charlie Weasley, and she had barely known him really. She wondered how Andromeda would react if she didn't get on with her daughter. Would she kick her out? Send her back to the muggles? Her stomach started to growl and she came to a conclusion, there wasn't really much of a choice when she thought about it. She hated the muggles, and now that she had an option to leave she couldn't stand to think about staying in her current situation. She figured if she hated it at her aunt's house, that she could leave, run away. She was rather good at that.

Having made her decision she carefully packed up her belongings at Castle Lestrange, said goodbye to her refuge, and made her way to meet her Aunt in the café.