Updated as of 3/4/2021.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The Snake Pit
"Take their wands," Carlisle ordered, "and give them to me."
Cassie had no choice but to stand, seething, as Avery approached her, his wand still angled at her chest while the other Slytherins searched the Marauders. Avery pawed through her robes, refusing to make eye contact, and her anger built.
"You snake," she hissed at him.
His eyes flicked up to hers finally, pale blue against dark brown. They were completely unreadable, not a trace of emotion in them. She would have thought he was under some spell if not for the clarity in those pale, pale eyes. He said nothing, only extracting her wand and retreating to the folds of the Slytherins, passing it off to Carlisle, who pocketed Cassie's wand with savage glee.
"Excellent," she said. "Now, follow me."
With wands still pointed at them and their own confiscated, Cassie and the Marauders were forced to obey Carlisle's command as she began marching down the corridor. Cassie wondered if Carlisle was really so reckless as to risk being seen in the corridors holding a bunch of students hostage, but when the witch led them into a secret passageway, she began to despair.
She can't do anything terrible, not with Dumbledore around watching her every move, she assured herself.
Then again, Mary MacDonald had been attacked under his very nose, and the headmaster still did not know who did it, even if the attacker stood only three paces to her right, his wand aimed in her direction.
She could feel the Marauders at her back as they walked through the tight, dimly lit passage, but she didn't dare turn and try to speak with them while they were surrounded by so many foes. Fury rolled off James so viciously the air seemed to be tinged with it, turning it hotter, tenser. The haughty indifference Sirius locked into place whenever he wanted to hide his true emotions was wholly different to James's anger—it was pure ice, unfeeling and unforgiving. Vengeance in its purest form. Remus was a calm, steady presence at her back, a warm wall of strength and comfort all at once. But she knew he was drinking in every detail; every crack in the stone floor; every twitch and tick the Slytherins let slip, unaware of his scrutiny; every possible way they could escape, even with the odds stacked against them so badly. Peter was shaking beside Remus, and Cassie could taste the tang of his fear, sharp and sour, for it echoed her own sense of panic and dismay.
But she couldn't afford to be afraid, not right now—not when her friends' safety was compromised, not when her own life might be in danger. So Cassie straightened her spine and tugged on her Alderfair armor, the sword that promised wrath and the shield that vowed protection from her enemies. She was iron and steel and frost and fire. Carlisle would not—could not—break her.
The passage led them to the second-floor corridor. With all the students still out on the grounds, enjoying the weather and the near end of exams, the castle was empty and quiet. Their footsteps echoed on the floor as Carlisle entered Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the Slytherins herding them in behind her. Cassie looked around frantically, but there was no sign of the ghost girl anywhere.
The Slytherins ushered them into the center of the room before retreating back into that circle, surrounding them on all sides. Carlisle turned, her black robes sweeping the floor and her red lips curled into that sweetly cold smile as she beheld Cassie.
"I have waited a long time for this, Cassie Alderfair," she said, nearly purring in pleasure. "Too long have you been a thorn in my side. Too long have you openly defied the Dark Lord. And now you're mine to deal with."
"Go on, then," Cassie said, feeling as if she were pulling her false bravery out of thin air. "Get rid of me. I'd love to see the look on Voldemort's face when he finds out you killed one of his little pawns."
"You dare speak his name?" Carlisle shrieked. Even some of the Slytherins flinched back—either at Carlisle's shout or Cassie's use of Voldemort's name, she had no idea. Carlisle's eyes had blown open at Cassie's words, the whites showing and matching the fury on the other witch's face. "Your insolence is at an end, Cassie Alderfair. Your family name no longer matters to the Dark Lord—not when your brother is still alive. Surely no one will miss one less Alderfair in the world."
"You can't kill Cassie," said Sirius, his grey eyes boring into Carlisle so intently that it was shocking the witch hadn't burst into flames yet. Regulus watched his brother carefully, but Sirius only glared at Carlisle. "Dumbledore knows what you're up to. You kill her, and he'll know who did it. So I hope you enjoy Azkaban, because that's where you'll be going."
Carlisle laughed. "Foolish boy. Your precious Dumbledore isn't here. By the time he returns, Cassie Alderfair's body will be cold, and you four boys won't remember a thing. And I will be long gone—returned to the Dark Lord's side, where I have always been.
"But first." Carlisle's eyes switched back to Cassie. "Miss Alderfair needs to tell me what she's done with the Gauntlet of Gryffindor."
"It's destroyed." She jerked her chin to Regulus, sneering. "Didn't your little pet tell you?"
"A ploy," Carlisle said, "to trick me into thinking you didn't have it. Where is it?"
"Are you stupid?" Cassie snapped. "I don't have it. I did, but I lost it when it turned into dust. Neither side won. What part of that aren't you understanding?"
"Lies," Carlisle hissed. "I know you have the gauntlet! Your traitorous brother made sure of that."
"My traitorous brother did what you couldn't, even under the influence of Voldemort and Slytherin combined." A collective shudder went around the circle, but Carlisle threw the Slytherins a withering glare that kept them from moving. "And now I'm telling you that the gauntlet is gone. Even if you kill me, you have nothing to give your master but a dead body he has no use for."
"LIES!" Carlisle's chest began to heave, tremors of rage shaking her body. "You and your brother conspired to hide it! WHERE IS IT?"
Cassie spat at the witch's feet. "Up your ass."
Carlisle's scream was nearly inhuman. Sparks shot from her wand, and her grey eyes had turned nearly black.
"Very well." Her voice became softer—deadlier. "If you won't tell me the truth, Alderfair, then perhaps I should provide you with some incentive." She pointed to Peter. "Wilkes, Rosier—hold him." Peter paled as two seventh-years left the circle, each boy grabbing one of his arms as he began to tremble. "Mulciber—make Mr. Pettigrew squeal." Kanin Mulciber approached Peter, cracking his knuckles before Carlisle's voice stopped him. "Oh—and only use magic," she said. "I'd hate to leave a mark anyone could see on the poor boy."
Mulciber extracted his wand, and Peter's eyes began darting around the room wildly, searching for a way out. His round face dripped with sweat, and James and Remus stepped in front of him protectively, glaring at Mulciber.
"Stop it," Cassie said, turning back to Carlisle. "I already told you—I don't have the gauntlet. Leave my friends out of this."
Carlisle ignored her. "Whenever you're ready, Mulciber."
"Get out of my way, you fucking twats," the Slytherin said to James and Remus. "You'll get your turn soon enough. Petrificus Totalus!" James went down like a board, face-first, and there was the sound of crushing glass as his spectacles shattered. Mulciber repeated the spell, and Remus keeled over, as still as a statue. Mulciber advanced on Peter, who was now crying and whimpering.
"Stop it," Cassie said again. "I don't have the bloody gauntlet! Let him go!"
Mulciber tapped his wand against his chin, thinking. "I liked that trick you did on Snape earlier, Potter," he said to the unmoving James. "What was it again? Oh, right—Scourgify!"
Bubbles began spewing out of Peter's mouth, and the small boy gagged. He tried to bend over and retch, but one of the Slytherins holding him forced his head back, choking him further. Cassie whirled on Carlisle.
"STOP IT!" she screamed. "PLEASE STOP! HE'S DONE NOTHING—I DON'T HAVE IT—"
"What was that, Miss Alderfair?" Carlisle said. "I can't hear you over Mr. Pettigrew's gargling."
The Slytherins laughed. Tears built in Cassie's eyes, and she turned to Sirius. His expression was equally pained, but when they met each other's gazes, a silent understanding passed between them. Sirius gave an imperceptible nod, and Cassie's resolve hardened.
I am iron and steel and frost and fire.
"Stop," Cassie pleaded. The tears spilled forth, running down her face, and Peggy Sloane snickered at her. "Please, I—I'll tell you where the gauntlet is. Please, just let Peter go."
Carlisle studied her for a moment, her grey eyes cold, but she gestured to Mulciber. "Stop." She flicked a lazy hand at the Slytherins holding Peter. "Release him."
The two boys dropped Peter. He slumped to the ground, retching, and Cassie's tears intensified at the sight. She hung her head, curling her hands into fists as Carlisle approached her, victory already etched into her features. She tilted Cassie's chin up, forcing her to meet the other witch's eyes.
"Well?" Carlisle was breathless. Glory—Cassie could see it in her gaze. Carlisle would have all the glory Voldemort had to offer bestowed upon her if she returned to him victorious, the gauntlet secured and Cassie herself dead. "Where is it, Miss Alderfair?"
Glory—that she would never have.
Cassie smiled.
"Gone."
She threw herself forward, slamming into Carlisle and tackling the other witch to the ground with a strangled yelp. Carlisle's wand flew from her hand and skittered across the floor, but when she reached for it, Cassie grabbed her wrist and smashed it into the stones. She heard several pops and a crunch, and Carlisle screamed in pain.
Behind her, Sirius had lunged for Mulciber. Cassie and Sirius were in synch as they disarmed Carlisle and Mulciber, their minds seemingly connected as the circle of Slytherins descended into chaos.
Several of the older students kept their heads, pulling out their wands to launch spells, while others blatantly ran for the door now that their control had been dismembered and their leader was grappling on the floor, wandless.
With Mulciber's wand gone, as well, James and Remus jumped to their feet, the curse on them broken at last. James dodged a spell from one of the Slytherins who had been holding Peter and punched him square in the nose, sending the seventh-year down with a cry of pain as blood spurted from his face.
Cassie pinned Carlisle down with her knees, squeezing the witch's middle as Carlisle thrashed and struggled beneath her. She plunged her hand into Carlisle's robes and pulled out five wands—the Marauders' and her own. Cassie pointed all five wands at Carlisle's face, barely taking a breath before shouting, "Stupefy!"
Red light glowed in Carlisle's grey eyes, turning them crimson for a brief moment as the wands ignited before the force of the combined spell launched Cassie backwards with a resounding BANG. She toppled across the floor, clutching the wands to her chest in a death-grip as she rolled and tumbled. A jarring pain shot up her left side, but she gritted her teeth, refusing to let go of the wands. They were now the only things that stood between them and the vengeful Slytherins that had chosen to stay and fight.
From the dozen or so that had initially cornered them, only about half remained—those with either a personal vendetta against them like Snape, Mulciber, Avery, and Peggy Sloane—and three seventh-years who just seemed to be on the warpath for no other reasons but cruelty and malice. Regulus Black, she noted from where she still lay on the floor, dazed, was nowhere to be seen.
On the sidelines, indeed.
"Remus!" she croaked. The sandy-haired Marauder had just ducked a blinding spell from one of the seventh-years, but he spared her enough of a glance that she hurled his wand at him. He caught it just in time to throw up a shield against another spell.
Cassie hauled herself to her feet, wincing when her bones protested against the weight of her body, pain still throbbing head-to-foot. The Slytherin James had punched was still on the ground, cradling his broken nose, but Snape was advancing on him quickly.
"James!"
With all the skill of a Chaser, he caught his wand and brandished it at Snape. His glasses were missing pieces from when they'd broken, but James hardly seemed to care, launching an offensive spell that began the duel between him and Snape.
Sirius was fending off dual attacks from Mulciber and the third seventh-year, ducking and weaving between their spells as if he were doing some mad dance. He didn't need to hear his name being called, seeming to have sensed Cassie's presence already, for he merely held out his hand expectantly. She chucked his wand, and without taking his eyes off the Slytherins, caught it, already wielding a spell a mere second after it touched his hand.
Cassie looked around and saw Avery and Sloane advancing on Peter, who still cowered on the floor, soap strains staining his mouth. Cassie raised her wand and fired two quick spells in succession. "Impedimenta! Stupefy!"
Avery leaped away from her Knockback Jinx, but Sloane took her Stunning Spell full in the back, crumpling like a rag doll. Cassie tossed Peter's wand to him, hardly registering that he didn't even pick it up. Her eyes were only for Avery as she stalked closer.
"You're a liar," she snarled. "All that talk of wanting to help me, of believing in my brother to find a better path, and you stand with her."
Avery said nothing, only watching her with those pale eyes.
"You almost killed Mary," she continued. Sparks trailed from her wand, the wood thrumming in her hand. "You stood by while Carlisle almost killed me." A flicker in his pale eyes. A flicker she had come to recognize after so many months of being around him. She decided to hit him where it would hurt the most. "Did you ever care for me at all?"
There—the crack, the fissure in his composure she had been waiting for. That she knew would come.
"Of course I cared." His voice was ragged. "For months I cared. You were my hope, Cassie. My hope that I could change things."
"Until you betrayed me."
His face contorted. "I never betrayed you. You were the one who pushed meaway—because you couldn't let down your pride enough to trust a Slytherin."
The fight raged around them. Mirrors were shattered and sinks were crumbled into pieces, water puddled around them, reflecting the lights of the whizzing spells. Cassie wondered why no one had come yet. They were making an awful racket—but Carlisle must have planned for that, must have cast a Silencing Charm around the room before leading them into her trap.
"But I was right, wasn't I?" she countered, prowling closer. Avery stood his ground, his pale eyes still churning like a hurricane beneath ice. "You crawled back to Carlisle like a scared little boy once you thought the game was changing. You never believed that I could've won, or else you would have stayed and tried to help me."
"I didn't stay because I knew I wasn't wanted," he said angrily. His gaze slid to Sirius, who still dueled Mulciber as the other boy scuttled across the floor, searching for his Disarmed wand. "Carlisle never gave me a choice."
"You always have a choice, Avery," she murmured. She was now so close she could reach out and poke him with her wand. "You told me that once, remember?"
Avery raised his wand. She kept hers by her side.
"Prove to me what side you're really on," she whispered. "Make your choice."
Avery kept his wand trained on her, his eyes never leaving her face. Cassie loosed a tight breath, realizing that she had left herself entirely defenseless and at the mercy of the Slytherin before her. She waited, and the seconds turned to hours, the fight diminishing to background noise as she watched those pale eyes, fragmented and distorted. She saw the spell building in his eyes—the desire to make her hurt as much as she had hurt him. His lips parted, words on his tongue—
The bathroom door burst open with the force of a cannon blast. Cassie whirled, thinking the runaway Slytherins from earlier had come back, but her eyes widened when Lily, Marlene, and Alice stormed in, wands at the ready.
"What in the bloody hell…?" Cassie breathed.
"So this is where they ran off to," Marlene said, giving the bathroom a disgusted once-over. "Could've picked a better place for a duel."
Cassie, the Marauders, and the Slytherins all stood still, staring at the three girls in shock. The fight was momentarily forgotten as everyone took in the three newcomers, sized them up, and calculated the numbers. With Carlisle and Sloane unconscious and with Peter slumped against a stall door, cringing away from any duels, that left the Slytherins with five duelers and the Gryffindors with seven. The seventh-year that had been cradling his broken nose slowly rose to his feet, lifting his wand, and Cassie recalculated. Seven to six. We still have the numbers.
The Slytherins seemed to realize this, as well, for the seventh-year that was dueling Sirius alongside Mulciber peeled off, heading for Lily with a nasty grin on his face.
"Leave the Mudblood to me," he said.
Lily's face went white with rage as she brandished her wand like a sword.
"Your funeral," she said, and launched a volley of spells that sent the seventh-year staggering back, barely raising a shield in time to deflect them.
As if Lily were the choreographer to their odd dance of spells and shields, the duels started anew to answer her call. James and Snape both battled with a newfound fervor, undoubtedly caused by the redhead's presence, and Remus and his own seventh-year whipped spells at each other at a dizzying pace. Sirius was striking and lunging at Mulciber, teeth bared as if he were Padfoot instead of human, and Peter shrank back as Alice and Marlene charged straight for Cassie and Avery.
"Allow us to take this one off your hands, Cass," Alice said, oddly chirpy for such a serious situation.
"Yes, that bloke behind us looks like he's dying to meet you," drawled Marlene, not taking her gaze off Avery as he sneered.
Cassie turned and saw that Marlene was right; the seventh-year James had punched earlier lumbered straight toward her, his mouth parted in a leer that looked quite gruesome with the blood on his face.
She glanced back at Alice and Marlene, her gaze sliding to Avery.
"Good luck," she said to him.
She didn't watch Alice and Marlene start in on him, instead turning back to the seventh-year with her wand raised.
He threw a sizzling blue spell at her, but she shouted "Protego!" and it bounced harmlessly off her shield. He began casting spells like mad, battering her shields until it was an effort to keep them from buckling. She may have been an excellent Shield caster, but the Slytherin had two years' experience on her and brute strength to back it.
When she knew her shield couldn't take another hit, she dropped it unexpectedly and rolled out of the way of his Stunning Spell, coming back up on her feet and yelling, "Expelliarmus!"
He deflected her spell and sent a wordless one her way—a Knockback Jinx that had her skidding across the floor again. She couldn't help the cry that escaped her lips when she landed on her left side again, but she scrambled back to her feet quickly, throwing up a weak shield that fizzled out when it came into contact with his next curse.
Cassie's mind went blank with panic, and she scrambled for another spell to use. All of them seemed to be wisps of smoke, disappearing as soon as she caught one. Think, Cassie, think!
The Slytherin made his way toward her lazily, his grin smug. Her muteness was all he needed to confirm that she was out of ideas and that he was going to win. She wondered distantly if he had the spine to kill her himself for Voldemort.
No.
I am iron and steel and frost and fire.
And the spell came to her.
"Bombarda Maxima!"
The floor beneath the Slytherin's feet erupted with the force of a geyser. The explosion she produced was so powerful that the Slytherin crashed into the opposite wall and fell, unconscious, in a heap. Water gushed out of the hole in the floor and flooded the bathroom worse than Moaning Myrtle ever could. A jet of water shot Mulciber directly in the face, blinding him, and Sirius decked him so hard Cassie's own ears rang as Mulciber went down, out cold.
The remaining seventh-years shared one glance and ran for the door, leaving Snape, Avery, and their unconscious companions behind. Outnumbered and abandoned, Avery let his wand clatter to the floor. He raised his arms. "I yield."
Everyone looked at Cassie, and it took her a few moments to register that they were looking to her for guidance. She nodded once. "Take his wand. Let him yield."
Avery's gaze was indecipherable as she glanced around the wrecked bathroom. Carlisle was still sprawled across the floor some feet away, but Cassie didn't dare look. She had no idea what five Stunners to the face could do, but by the stench of burnt flesh that filled her nostrils, she could very well guess.
"Well," she said. "Er—"
"James, watch out!"
Lily's shout rang through the bathroom like a bell.
They all turned just in time to see Snape raise his wand, his sallow face twisted into furious loathing—there was a flash of light—Sirius lunged for James, who hadn't even had time to get his wand up—two shouts of pain rent the air—and in the next second, James and Sirius had both toppled to the floor.
Lily snapped her wand and Snape's wand splashed down into the water, the Disarming Spell hitting him without a waver from its caster.
Cassie was already running, sloshing through the water that was slowly turning redder the closer she got to James and Sirius. Sirius sat up with a lurch, gasping, and Cassie's heart nearly stopped as she stumbled to her knees before him, grabbing his face.
"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" she asked. A long gash had been sliced into his white uniform shirt, and the cut beneath it was leaking blood, but not an alarming amount.
"I'm fine," he ground out between clenched teeth. "Prongs—"
James was on his back, the water saturating his hair and clothes. His eyes were glazed with pain behind his broken glasses, and his chest heaved both with air and blood, staining the water red.
Cassie pressed her hands down as hard as she could over the largest cut as the others ran over with cries and shouts. "Help me!" Sirius put pressure on another cut, and Remus another, but there were too many cuts, too much blood—
Lily whirled on Snape, who was staring at James, white-faced and terrified.
"What did you do to him?" she screeched. "What did you do?"
"I-I didn't know…" Snape murmured, dazed. "The severity of it…"
"Fix him!" Lily screamed at him. "FIX HIM!"
Snape's eyes traveled from James to Lily, black and hollow.
Lily grabbed Snape's wand and thrust it at him. "Please," she said, tears gathering in her eyes. "Please, Sev, if we were ever friends, please, please, please…fix him."
Snape sunk to his knees, his hair hanging in greasy folds around his face, and took the wand from Lily's hand.
Death, Cassie thought in a daze. James's blood oozed between her fingers, draining the life from him, and she prayed to the higher beings to not take him away, to let him stay with her and the others. She watched as Snape took his wand and held it over James. He was so close to her that she could feel his cold, clammy skin against hers. Even his breath seemed cold. He looks like Death, about to pass his judgement.
"Vulnera Sanentur," Snape whispered. It was almost a song. Blood stopped gushing between Cassie's fingers. "Vulnera Sanentur." James's eyelids fluttered. "Vulnera Sanentur." The wounds beneath Cassie's palms began to close, knitting together inch by inch. James's face remained pale, his eyes still glazed, but when she felt his heart thump against her hand, strong and sure, and his steady breathing fanned across her face, she began to sob.
Sirius held both her and James close, his face paler than she had ever seen it, as if his blood had been drained as much as James's had. He didn't even notice when Snape used the counter-curse on him too, Lily's eyes beseeching all the while.
"Prongs?" Sirius whispered, his voice hoarse. "Prongs, can you hear me?"
James groaned. "'Course I can."
Sirius dropped his head. Cassie could feel his shoulders shaking as he held her. She reached for James.
"James, are you okay?" she said.
He groaned again. "I will be." He blinked up at them all through squinted eyes. "Can you all stop leaning ov'r me? Your breath smells."
Cassie huffed out a shaky laugh with the rest. Remus looked as if he dearly wanted to hit James's newly healed chest, but he wiped away a few stray tears instead, his face sagging with relief.
Lily leaned in beside Cassie, her red hair falling over James's face like a curtain of fire and gold.
"Come on," she said. Cassie stared; that was the gentlest tone she had ever heard Lily use. "Let's get you to Madam Pomfrey. She'll want to look over you."
Snape, surprisingly, didn't object. Instead he just watched Lily lean over James with an expression akin to one being tortured.
With all of their help, besides Snape's, James managed to get back on his feet. His arms were flung around Remus and Lily's shoulders, and Lily even placed a soft hand on his stomach to keep him upright. Cassie thought James might faint at the contact.
"So," Marlene said, breaking the stifling silence. She looked around pointedly to the carnage and unconscious bodies surrounding them. Cassie didn't fail to notice that Avery was long gone. "Who wants to be the one to tell Dumbledore what happened today?"
"I don't think volunteerism will be necessary, Miss McKinnon."
They all turned to see Professor Dumbledore standing in the doorway to the bathroom, a shocked Professor McGonagall and a blustering Professor Slughorn behind him. The headmaster fixed them all with a grim look.
"I need everyone besides Mr. Potter in my office—now."
It took until midnight to fill in Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Slughorn on everything that had happened. At one point, a grizzled man with half his nose missing came into the headmaster's office and stayed. He didn't take notes; he only watched and listened. Cassie had a feeling she ought to know who the wizard was—some Ministry official, she presumed—but her mind was so focused on getting the details of her story right that she didn't have the brainpower to spare to recall his name.
Dumbledore and McGonagall listened in stony silence, only interrupting a few times to ask for clarification. Slughorn gasped and uttered "Oh, my," after nearly everything they said—so much that Dumbledore had to conjure another chair and a rather large glass of brandy to calm him down.
Things got tricky when it came to the part where McGonagall asked them to identify the spell used on James and who had casted it. Cassie had determined that the spell used was of Snape's own making, since even Lily had not known which counter-curse to use, but she tried to catch Lily's eye before wanting to say anything. Lily, however, seemed to already be silently imploring Snape to say something. But before he could, Sirius spoke up.
"It was Snape." His voice was completely flat, devoid of any condemnation or mercy. "Some spell the little freak made up in his spare time."
Slughorn broke away from his brandy long enough to gasp again. "Mr. Snape? Is this true?"
Snape bristled under everyone's scrutiny, but his voice was calm when he said, "Yes, it's true I used it. But I didn't know what it was. I didn't make it up. Macnair taught it to me."
Slughorn clucked his tongue. "I should have known. A little too interested in the Dark Arts if you know what I mean…" He glanced to Dumbledore and McGonagall and the Ministry official. "I would never think Mr. Snape would create a spell so malicious…"
Sirius clenched his hands into fists, but didn't say anything. None of them had any proof to refute Snape's claim anyway. Cassie reached out to put her hand on Sirius's, but stopped when she realized it was still covered in James's drying blood. Ignoring the turn in her stomach, she continued their story until the headmaster had arrived at the bathroom, and after that, there were several long minutes of silence until all the information had been absorbed.
"It seems my students' story concurs with my own, Alastor," Professor Dumbledore said to the Ministry official. The name triggered something in Cassie's memory: Alastor Moody. Head Auror. The greatest Dark wizard catcher of all time. Her father had mentioned him many times before. "Claudia Carlisle is a Death Eater who has been working under Lord Voldemort this entire year to get information on me and…other sensitive topics we have already discussed at length." The headmaster nodded to Cassie. "Miss Alderfair and her friends have done us a great service."
Alastor Moody snorted. "They're children, Albus."
"Still," Dumbledore said, "they did what we could not."
Moody glared at them. "I'm sure there're several charges that could be pressed against them." Lily paled. Moody snorted again. "Bloody hell, I don't care. At least they made my job easier." He stood up. "Lot less paperwork for me to fill out, so I'll let you all off with a warning."
Remus looked ready to object even a warning, but a swift elbow from Marlene made him sit back, sullen. Cassie glanced to Moody nervously. "What about Carlisle?"
Moody grunted. "What about her?"
"Will she… Did I…" Her mouth was too dry to even form the words. Moody gave her an odd look.
"You didn't kill her, if that's what you're trying to say." Cassie's shoulders slumped in relief. "She'll be in St Mungo's for a while—at least until her trial." Moody shook his head, looking grudgingly impressed. "Five Stunners to the face, though—that's gotta hurt."
Cassie flushed, but Professor Dumbledore stood, as well.
"Thank you," he said to them. "That will be all for tonight. Rest assured that the events of today will not go unpunished."
They all nodded and got to their feet, ready to depart, but Professor Dumbledore called Cassie back.
"Miss Alderfair, if you don't mind staying behind just a little longer, we would like to speak with you more."
To her surprise, Sirius spoke up next to her.
"With all due respect, Professor, I'd like to stay with Cassie, if she'll allow it." He looked down at her, and there was a fierce pride in his eyes that rendered her speechless. She could only nod in return.
"Me too," Alice said, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around Cassie's waist. Cassie returned the gesture, squeezing tightly.
"And me," Lily said. She didn't even glance back at Snape as he slunk out of the room, hidden in the shadows.
Marlene looked between everyone with high brows. Remus nodded, and after a moment, so did Peter. Marlene shrugged and sat back in her seat, crossing her legs. "I guess that makes all of us, then."
"Don't forget James," Sirius said.
"I'm sure he'll be terribly sorry that he missed out," said Remus, grinning. He shot Cassie a wink, and she smiled, turning back to Dumbledore, who seemed quite bemused.
"I trust them all with my life, sir," she said. "In fact, I did today. Anything that can be said to me can be said to them, too."
Dumbledore stared at her a long moment before releasing a long breath. "Very well." He sat back down. "It will be good for you to have such admirable company in the days ahead."
That confused her, but Alastor Moody was speaking again.
"We found your brother," the Auror said. Cassie's knees nearly gave out in relief. Alice held her up with an encouraging squeeze. "William Alderfair is now in our custody."
"Wait. What?" Cassie frowned. "Custody? You arrested him? On what charge?"
"He confessed," Moody said simply.
"Confessed to what?" Cassie drew herself up sharply. "He was cleared of all charges by the Wizengamot last year in that Muggle attack—"
"Miss Alderfair," said Professor Dumbledore gently, "perhaps you should sit down—"
"I will not!" She met Moody's stare challengingly. "Not until he tells me what crime he is charging my brother with!"
"Murder," said Moody.
The word cut through her like a blade.
"W-what?"
"Miss Alderfair." Professor Dumbledore sighed deeply. "I am sorry to be the bearer of ill news—"
"Who?" she demanded. "WHO?"
"Your mother and father." It was Professor McGonagall who answered her. The sympathy in the other witch's eyes was what finally broke her. "I'm sorry, Cassie, but Lukas and Eleanor Alderfair are—they're dead. I'm so sorry."
Cassie was no longer iron and steel and frost and fire. She was none of those things. She was only empty.
She dropped like a stone.
Next Chapter: The Beginning