Disclaimer: All rights go to JK Rowling. Anything you don't recognize is mine.

Updated as of 7/18/2019.

Chapter Seventeen

The Deal

The hand held firm over her mouth despite her muffled shouts and flailing limbs, and the cloth wrapped tightly over her eyes obscured her view completely, rendering her helpless as she was pushed along by multiple pairs of hands.

When she wasn't struggling, she could hear only the footsteps of the people holding on to her, and the sudden narrowness and cramped feeling she got told her that she was traveling through secret passageways, out of sight of the other students and staff.

The cloth was ripped free of her eyes and she was shoved onto a cold stone floor. There was a distinct snap of a door behind her as she whirled around, preparing to scream before a voice said, "Silencio."

Cassie opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She looked up to see three girls standing over her, the center one lowering her wand and smirking as she gaped. Cassie recognized Peggy Sloane, the horrible girl from her Defense class who had laughed with the other Slytherins after Mulciber had given her that note. The other two she vaguely recalled, and though she couldn't remember their names, their silver-and-green ties told her they were Slytherins, as well.

"Look at her face," Sloane snickered. Her own face—which quite resembled that of a bulldog's—was lit with vicious amusement. "It looks like she's trying to comprehend her own stupidity."

Cassie wanted to point out that that made no sense at all, but her vocal chords were completely useless as she kneeled on the floor of what appeared to be an empty bathroom.

Sloane raised her wand again. "Now, Alderfair, if I lift the spell, are you gonna scream?"

Very slowly, she shook her head, and Sloane gave her a smug smile before muttering the counter-curse. The other two tensed, expecting her to cry out, but she remained silent, getting back to her feet and saying nothing, only meeting Sloane's beady eyes.

"What do you want?" she asked. She was surprised to hear her voice come out so even despite her racing heart and sweaty palms.

"We just got a few questions for you, Gryffindor, no big deal," Sloane said, shrugging.

Cassie eyed her warily. "About what?"

"Your brother." Cassie froze, and Sloane noticed the motion like a shark sniffing blood in the water.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said as firmly as she could. "I haven't spoken to him in months."

"Word travels," Sloane said, and Cassie swallowed nervously at the grin on the girl's face. "See, us Slytherins look out for each other; and when your brother decided to jump into the snake pit with the rest of us, we started keeping tabs on him, too. So, cut the shit, Alderfair. We know about the Hogsmeade visit."

The blood drained from Cassie's face—if they knew about her meeting with Will, then did they know about the locket too?

"What of it?" she said with a slight waver to her voice. The girls exchanged a meaningful look.

"He gave you something, a birthday present." Sloane sneered at her. "What was it?"

"A stupid bracelet, completely worthless," she said. "I threw it in the bin as soon as I got back."

The three exchanged another look. She could tell they weren't entirely convinced, and her mind hurried to think of something else.

"Why are you interested, anyway?" she asked. "Did Carlisle put you up to this?"

One of the girls' eyes widened, and she turned to Sloane fearfully. "She knows about Carlisle—"

"Shut up, Emma!" Sloane hissed, but Cassie grinned.

"What's Carlisle's game?" she said. "What does she want with me and my brother?"

"Nothing," Sloane snapped, but Cassie wasn't done.

"And what about the Founders? Why is she so interested in them, and the Forbidden Forest—?"

She stopped, hand automatically reaching for her pocket when three wands aimed at her, Sloane glaring with the intensity of a rabid dog.

"This conversation never happened," she said, pointing the tip of her wand at Cassie's forehead. "Your day was entirely normal, Alderfair, and you won't remember any of this. Oblivi—ARGH!"

Cassie stared, dumbfounded, as jets of water shot from the row of toilets behind her and doused the three Slytherins in dull grey water that smelled strongly of sewage. After gargling and slipping in the water barrage for a few seconds, the three girls turned and fled the bathroom, coughing and gagging the whole way.

Cassie stood alone in the bathroom. She watched the water flow back into the toilets, leaving the floor soaking, yet she was standing in the only dry spot in the room. She looked from the door to the now-peaceful toilets, shocked, and jumped when a voice behind her said, "I never liked bullies."

She turned to see a pearly, translucent ghost of a girl about her age floating a few feet above the wet floor, her eyes glaring behind large glasses at the door the Slytherins had just run through. Her glare switched to Cassie, who closed her mouth quickly and averted her gaze, not wanting to upset the temperamental ghost of Moaning Myrtle.

"Er, thanks," she said hastily.

Myrtle didn't reply, instead drifting over to a mirror and fiddling with her transparent pigtails. Cassie figured she must be in the faulty girls' lavatory on the second floor, the one Myrtle must frequent and the one no girl dared to use for fear of upsetting the ghost, and after clearing her throat, she started for the door, grudgingly stopping when Myrtle spoke up.

"You look like someone I've seen before," she said. Cassie gave the ghost a blank look as she gazed at her with her eerily large eyes.

"Er, well, I've been going to this school for a few years now," she said. "And my brother went here, too; people say we usually look alike. When they notice me beside him," she added in an undertone, but Myrtle either didn't hear the last part or ignored her.

"No, not like that," she said, waving a pale hand. "She was a woman—a ghost, actually. I only ever saw her the once, but you look a lot like her."

"That's nice," Cassie said, now extremely uncomfortable. "Have a nice day, Myrtle."

She slipped out the door before the ghost could creep her out further, and walked quickly to the common room, looking over her shoulder multiple times to make sure those Slytherins weren't following her.

She remembered Regulus's words from last night, about how she had begun to interest several of his Housemates, and she couldn't help the shiver that rolled down her spine, making her hair stand on end as she realized that the Slytherin had been right.

She marched to the common room with new purpose; she had to find James and tell him what happened last night with Regulus and now today with the Slytherin girls, and she needed to know if he managed to get any information about Carlisle or Avery at the party.

She climbed through the portrait hole, looking around to see if she could spot James before someone grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her off to the girls' staircases.

"Merlin, can everyone stop manhandling me today?" she complained, tugging her arm out of Lily's iron grasp and staring at her friend with raised brows. "Lily?"

The redhaired witch turned with a sigh, crossing her arms and staring at Cassie seriously. "Wait, who else manhandled you today? Did Black do something to you?"

"What? No, no." She shook her head, nearly forgetting about her conversation with Sirius that morning in her haste to find James. "Lily, what's up? I'm kind of in a rush right now, I have to find James—"

Lily's lips pursed at the mention of her arch-nemesis's name, but she didn't comment, which Cassie took to be one step forward in the right direction. Lily shook her head, dropping her hands. "Cassie, I-I just need some advice here."

She looked so desperate that Cassie found herself nodding, James temporarily shoved aside as Lily plopped into a plush armchair by the window, Cassie following suit and gazing at her friend imploringly. "What's wrong, Lils?"

"I just…" She gestured vaguely to Cassie, frowning. "How are you not upset over Marlene and Black? Both of them hid it from you, and even though I'm not friends with Black, I was still mad that Mar hadn't told me sooner."

Cassie paused, unsure of what to say. She had been mad when she'd found out, and the notion that they had kept it from her still nettled her a bit, but Lily was right. Why was she not angrier?

"I dunno," she said slowly, looking back to Lily apologetically. "After everything else, I just can't find it in myself to be upset, y'know? With Will, and my parents, and all the things that are happening in the news… I just can't be angry at them. If they have a chance of being decently happy in each other's company, then who am I to judge and take that away from them when everything else in the world is so messed up?"

Lily stared at her for a long while, not saying anything, and Cassie shifted uncomfortably, wondering if she had upset the other girl. Finally, she sighed and shook her head.

"Well, Merlin, Cassie," she said. "When you put it like that…" She shook her head again. "I'm a prat, I know. I don't know why I act like this whenever those…Marauders are involved. It just makes everybody else upset."

Cassie shrugged. "They've been giving you hell since first year. You have a right to dislike them." She eyed Lily firmly. "That doesn't mean you should expect everyone to dislike them, though."

Lily flushed. "I know that! Look, I'm trying, all right? Just don't expect me to start skipping down the corridors with them hand-in-hand."

Cassie snorted at the image that provided. "Of course not. Now, are you okay?"

Lily nodded slowly. "I think so."

Cassie reached over and patted the other girl's knee. "Thanks, Lils. For understanding."

"You're welcome." Lily gave her a warm smile before gesturing to the staircases. "Potter's in his dormitory. I don't know where that is—"

"Don't worry, I do." Cassie shot her a mischievous smile before waving and bounding up the stairs, nearly out of breath by the time she reached their door and rapped on it smartly.

She could hear shuffles from the other side of the door before it opened, revealing Peter, who looked out in suspicion before he recognized her.

"Oh, it's just Cassie," he said, stepping back and allowing her entrance. She gave him an affronted look as she walked in.

"Don't sound so enthused next time, Pete," she said. She looked around, only seeing Remus sitting atop his bed reading a book. "Where's James?"

"Shower," Peter grunted, flinging himself down on his own mattress and putting his arms behind his head.

Cassie sighed before nudging Remus with her hand. "Budge over."

He barely looked up at her as he kept reading, though he shifted to make just enough room for her to plop down. She threw herself onto her back and stared at the red canopy above them, her hair splayed across the pillow.

Remus spluttered, swatting aside her hair as he grumbled, "Why is there so much of it?"

"It grows, Remus," she pointed out, and he huffed.

"Sensible people cut their hair before it gets this long," he said.

"I do cut it; it just grows fast." She snickered when he flung some of her locks over her face.

"Well, keep it on your side of the bed," he retorted, going back to his book. Peter snorted from the other side of the room.

"Aw, are you two having your first domestic?" he asked, sitting up and batting his eyes at them. Cassie grabbed her shoe from the floor and threw it at him.

It went wide, smacking into the wall beside him, and he chortled. "Now I know why you don't play Quidditch."

"Oh, shove off, Peter," she said, though she couldn't help but laugh as the mousy boy got up from his bed and padded over to them.

"Nah, I'm good," he said before throwing himself on top of them.

"Can't…breathe…" Remus panted, shoving the boy off his chest and onto Cassie.

"I think you're crushing my reproductive system," she gasped when his elbow dug into her pelvic bone. The two boys let out disgusted noises, and Peter scrambled off her and onto the floor.

"Cassie, that's gross," he complained as he sat up, brushing off his sweater and glaring at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "It's natural, idiot. Get over it."

"Wait, why are you in my bed when there's two other empty ones in this room?" Remus said, finally looking up from his book and staring at her. "Go lay in Sirius's bed or something."

"You do not want to do that!" Peter looked panicked as he held out his arms to prevent her from moving.

"So she may find some dirty knickers, so what?" Remus snorted. Peter gave him a deadly serious look.

"Moony, have you ever stopped and wondered why some nights he casts a Silencing Charm around his bed?"

Cassie and Remus looked at each other, both realizing the meaning behind Peter's words at the same time as their eyes widened. Remus groaned, covering his face with his book, and Cassie pretended to vomit over the edge of Remus's bed, though her stomach was genuinely cramping from laughing so hard as Peter rolled on the floor, giggling like mad.

"You could not pay me enough Galleons in the world to climb into a bed where Sirius Black gets off," Cassie wheezed, and this sent Peter into a new round of giggles as Remus howled with laughter.

"No wonder why he has all those Muggle magazines," Peter said, his voice squeakier than normal.

"You think he gets off on those girls?" Remus said incredulously. "Try those motorbikes they always pose on top of."

Peter had entered a realm of soundless laughter. "'I'd stick my shaft up your pipe, baby,'" he choked out in a terrible impression of Sirius's husky voice. Cassie shrieked with mirth as Remus held his stomach beside her, the mattress nearly vibrating with the force of their laughter.

"What in Godric Gryffindor's sacred name is going on out here?"

James had appeared in the doorway of the washroom, wrapped in a towel and his hair sticking every which way as steam curled from behind him. He stared at the three as if they had come from some alien planet.

They quieted down at his appearance, but as soon as they exchanged a glance they were laughing again, James looking on in bemusement.

Shaking his head so water droplets sprinkled the floor, he walked over to his bed and gestured to Remus. "Moony, the Princess."

Still chuckling, Remus grabbed the pillow from behind them and placed it over her face, holding it firm as Cassie discreetly dried the tears that had leaked from her eyes on the pillowcase as James dressed. A few minutes later, Remus removed the pillow, James already looking at her expectantly from his bed where he rubbed his hair with his towel.

Understanding the silent message, she got up from Remus's bed and went over to the fully clothed James, ignoring Remus's sly comments about having a bed to himself again.

James wiped his glasses clean on his shirt before putting them on again. He jerked his chin at her. "Fancy a trip to the kitchens?"

"You know I'm always up for food," she said, and he shot her a smirk as they departed the dormitory, leaving Remus to read his book and Peter attempting to talk to him, still on the floor.

"They did what?" James exclaimed a half-hour later, abandoning his pudding and staring at Cassie with a mixture of incredulity and anger. She had just finished relaying her story to him, beginning from Regulus's cryptic warning at the party the night before and ending it with the revenge of Moaning Myrtle after the Slytherin girls had cornered her in the bathroom. She left out the part about her conversation with the ghost, however; Myrtle never really seemed to have all her marbles together, even in the afterlife, and she was sure it meant nothing.

James furiously spooned more pudding into his mouth and swallowed it with a loud gulp, a scowl set deep in his face. "This is open warfare now. They attacked one of our own—"

"Oh, will you stop acting like one of those Muggle army-leading-blokes?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"I believe the term you are looking for is a commander, or perhaps a general," he said wryly, causing her to make a face at him. "And I'm serious, Cassie—"

"No, you're not, you're James."

He threw his hands up in exasperation as she snickered, knowing the other boys would have been proud of her for that one.

"Will you stop joking around? This is seri—" He cut off when she looked on in expectation, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "This is important, Cassie, all right?"

"They're just bullies," she said. She frowned. "Bullies that seem to be working for Carlisle, but still."

James sighed, pushing his glasses back up his nose when they slipped down. "Look, you're the one that started this whole Carlisle theory, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think you're right—something is up. Something big. And if all these Slytherins are in on it, then it's starting to sound more and more dangerous. Like, Death Eater-level dangerous."

Cassie scoffed. "So, what? You think Carlisle is trying to recruit students as Death Eaters and is making them do stuff for her to prove their worth? Inside Hogwarts? The literal safest place in the wizarding world?"

James looked at her with such solemnity she felt the lemon cake she'd been chewing turn to sand in her mouth. "This recruiting has been going on for a few years, Cassie. It's an inside job. How do you think your brother found out about it all?"

She swallowed the cake like it was a stone lodged in her throat. "Then what do we do about it?"

"Let's go to Dumbledore," he urged. "He'd know what to do. I bet he can get Carlisle sacked, too—"

"On what evidence?" she hissed, feeling the need to drop her voice as she leaned in, propping her elbows on the table. "We don't have anything on her except speculation."

"What about those maps and papers you found in her office?" he said. "We can use those as our proof."

She shook her head. "There's no way we can get those papers legally. All of our credibility would be lost if he found out we had stolen them."

"Sometimes you have to do things the hard way," he pointed out. She ran her tongue over her top teeth, thinking.

"What about the locket?" she asked. "Do we have to tell him about that?"

James looked at her oddly. "Do you not want to?"

She sighed, putting her head in her hands and shrugging. "I dunno. I just want my life to stop feeling like those mystery novels my mum always reads."

"With all the erotic sex scenes added or without?" He tossed her a cheeky grin when she looked up in disgust. "Hey, my mum reads them, too. And let's just say they are not the type of books to leave around the house with your bored ten-year-old son roaming about."

"Okay, I get it, bad analogy, whatever," she said, waving him off.

"Actually, I think you used a simile, but that's all right."

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"Sometimes I wish you would stop talking. Permanently."

"Funny, Evans says the same thing."

Cassie groaned and rested her head on the table. "Good Godric, you're exhausting."

"Now that is something I hope I hear from her someday."

She mimed stabbing her fork into her throat as he laughed obnoxiously.

They sat in silence for a few moments as house-elves whisked by and cleared away their bare dishes. She swirled her finger along the patterns of the wood in the table, lost in thought until James spoke again.

"Did you see they posted the next Hogsmeade date?" She shook her head as he nodded, ruffling his hair (she figured it was a subconscious movement at this point, as Lily wasn't even around to see it). "Scheduled for next weekend. The ninth."

Her brows rose. "That soon? Merlin, this month went by fast."

He gave her an impish grin. "Time flies when you're having fun."

Ignoring him, she scratched absentmindedly at her nose, thinking back to the deal she'd struck with Sirius that morning, suddenly anxious as she realized that it all hinged on Bertram Aubrey asking her to go with him to the village.

She sighed, flopping her head on her arms and blowing a piece of hair out of her mouth. "I hate deals."

James gave her a pitying look, obviously already knowing what she was talking about. "Sirius Black is as devious as they come, too. Sorry to say, Princess, but you're pretty screwed."

"Like I haven't figured that out already," she replied, rolling her eyes. There was another silence until she asked, "Did you know? About Sirius and Marlene?"

"Hadn't the foggiest until he told me yesterday at practice about what happened," he said.

"Did it bother you?" she pressed. "Him not telling you until someone else found them out?"

He cocked his head, studying her thoughtfully. "Sirius is his own person," he said evenly. "I'm his best mate, and even I still don't know full well how his brain works."

She frowned, not very satisfied with that answer, and he flicked her hair playfully. "Why? Does it bother you?"

She thought about regurgitating what her answer to Lily had been, but the more she pondered it, the more she realized she was bothered by it.

"They're going to be terrible together," she admitted aloud. "He's a player, and she's a heartbreaker. They're going to ruin each other."

James whistled lowly, and she wondered if she had offended him by calling out his best mate until he said, "My thoughts exactly, Princess."

They exchanged a look, and Cassie grimaced. "This is going to be a long year, isn't it?"

James gazed at her sympathetically. "Oh, Princess, you don't know the half of it."

The girl was getting farther away.

She ran through trees splattered with the colors of fall, skirts hefted and shoes missing. Her dark hair streamed behind her like a banner, a declaration of defiance against the brightness of the leaves swirling around her.

A man chased her, but as Cassie watched from the peripheral, the two were laughing, mirth coloring their cheeks and brightening their eyes as they raced on. They were blurs, fading in and out of focus as she attempted to follow them, but it was like she was trapped on the other side of a frosted window. Their faces were indistinct, but she had the vague feeling she ought to know who they were.

Finally, the girl stopped, leaning back against the trunk of a wide oak, though all Cassie could see of her was her green dress and dark hair. The man slowed to a halt beside her, his scarlet robes blending spectacularly with the scenery and his golden hair disheveled from the chase.

"I wish I could do this forever," the girl said, her voice eerily familiar. "Run, and never have to worry about how far I'm going, or when I have to turn back. Just run and run and run."

"You can be free, my love," the man said, coming before the girl and wrapping his hands around her shoulders. "Marry me, and all of this can be yours. Forever."

Her shoulders slumped in resign. "You know I cannot."

The man looked pained, and Cassie recognized enough to know that he had heard her say this before.

"At least have this." He extracted something from a pocket within his robes. Cassie strained to see it as he held it out to the girl. "It is enchanted. Only you can open it, and when you are alone, I hope you think of me when it plays."

Realization and a sudden dread gripped Cassie, her eyes focused on the gift: a silver locket, circular, with silver whorls and a single red ruby wrought into the middle of it. Her locket. The clockwork locket.

She could hear the love and longing in the girl's voice as she whispered, "We have a deal, then, my love."

The man bent his head, their lips meeting just as Cassie jerked awake, her eyes snapping open. She lay in her bed, tucked away in her dormitory as the sounds of the other sleeping girls drifted to her ears. Faint moonlight filtered in through the window, and she rolled onto her side, her eyes drawn inexplicably to her bedside table.

She stared at the topmost drawer for a long while, and when her skin became too itchy, she swung her legs out of bed and knelt down before it, sliding open the drawer as silently as she could and rifling through it until her fingers touched on a cool metal chain.

She pulled the locket out and held it in her palm, feeling the faint whirs of the gears inside it against her heated skin before she finally let out a long breath in defeat.

"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" she asked it miserably. Luckily, it didn't answer her, but she imagined the gears turning a little faster, as if in excitement.

"Fine," she grumbled before clasping it around her neck and letting the pendant settle against her chest, molding to her skin as if it were made to be there.

Shaking off the absurdity of the thought, she climbed back into bed, settling herself in to sleep again, and hopefully this time without any weird dreams about forbidden lovers and her locket.

Her eyes slipped closed, and before she sank into oblivion once more, she imagined she felt a slight stirring against her chest, as if a second heartbeat were linking itself to her own.

Next Chapter: The Challenge

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