CHAPTER FOUR

Not all Pranks Are Harmless

Everything had started out harmlessly enough. Years ago, that is. Kassie was 11 when she met Mr. Murga, her science teacher. He was one of the first adults since the ordeal that made her smile, next to her Uncle of course. He was one of the first adults that she met that made her believe maybe not every adult was evil.

This was why it felt like her throat had fallen into her stomach and her breathing was getting tighter and harder. She had lost everything, she couldn't have lost him too.

She could still remember her first encounter with him.

Nerves wracked her body as she held tightly to her Uncle Moony. They had never been apart and now they would be apart for nearly an entire day, well a school day anyways. Her red hair fell in curls to the middle of her back and she was dressed in her green dress, one that Remus said was similar to one her mother had. She had never been to a real school and the thought terrified her.

They sat in the hard-wooden seats in front of the administration office. Kassie wondered if this was anything of what Hogwarts would've been like. She shook the feeling knowing full well that this school was nothing like Hogwarts, for one there was no magic allowed. She sat for what felt like hours before the two of them were called into on office and they sat once more across from a man who said he was the 'principal.' He hardly acknowledged Kassie at all which she was fine with her. She'd rather sit still and say nothing, just like she was taught.

"Miss Black," the words brought her out of her thoughts. Not because it was her name, but rather because she thought of her other uncle. The one who actually held that last name.

"Are you listening?" the principal had said the words sternly, but gently.

Kassie couldn't admit that she hadn't been listening, so she simply nodded.

When she and Remus were outside of the office, Remus knelt down to her level and whispered "you have English first period and there's a young boy who's going to show you how to get there."

Kassie smiled softly and nodded. She wasn't sure how he was always able to tell when she was being truthful and what she was thinking.

Kassie turned to see the boy who the principal was speaking with. He was small, skinny, and had sandy brown hair that covered his eyes. When he made eye contact with Kassie he smiled and offered his hand. "I'm Jon," he said loudly. Kassie took a step back at the introduction, startled by the boisterous tone.

The kid let his hand drop when Kassie didn't take it and his smile turned into a frown. "Well I'll just show you to class I guess," he said with a frown.

Kassie could feel Remus's grip tighten on her shoulder and she looked up at him to see tentativeness in his face. It seemed he wasn't entirely comfortable about letting her leave either. Kassie's frown softened and she grabbed her Uncle's hand. They had to do this eventually.

He smiled down at her "I'll see you at 2:30," he said softly before kissing her on the forehead.

Kassie nodded and looked back at the boy who was looking at the two of them as though they had grown multiple heads.

"Well?" he asked impatiently, beginning to walk in the opposite direction "Are you coming or what?"

Kassie waved goodbye to Remus as she ran off down the hallway after the boy.

They walked in silence, Kassie was trying to hold back the tears. She couldn't get herself to speak. She didn't know what to say to him or how to make things better.

"what's wrong with you?" Jon asked derisively. "Are you mute or something?"

Kassie shook her head but continued to remain silent until they reached the classroom. When they opened the door, a man with white hair, glasses, and a toothy grin smiled and pulled Kassie up to the front of the class while instructing Jon to sit down.

"I'm Mr. Segal," he said rocking back and forth from his toes to his heels. "Do your best not to confuse me with the bird on the beach," he said. Kassie frowned and looked around the class to see several people rolling their eyes as though they had heard the joke a million times. "class, I'd like to introduce you to Miss Kassandra Black, please try to be welcoming," he finished as he gestured for Kassie to take the open seat in the front of the class.

Kassie gave a small smile to the class. There were nearly 20 children in the class, most of whom gave her bored looks or small smiles. She took her seat and placed her bag on the floor and did her best to pay attention to her teacher. It became evident within the first fifteen minutes of class that her teacher was a bit crazy, speaking of how every human is made up of star dust. Kassie smiled at the irony of the thought. If the muggles realized she thought the teacher was crazy when she herself believed in werewolves, goblins, and witches. They'd think she was as crazy as him. It made her think maybe he wasn't so crazy after all.

When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Kassie grabbed her backpack and followed the other students to their next class, Science. The teacher had introduced himself as 'Mr. Murga' and told them to pull out their books. When Kassie went to open her back pack, she found the zipper stuck together with a small black tie that was too tight to remove. She sighed in frustration and glanced around the room to find Jon laughing with several other boys and looking at her. She shook her head and looked back at her desk. She didn't want to be there. She thought that at least if she had gone to a magical school she could have fought back.

"Here," the voice came from her side and she turned to find a girl with straight blonde hair sitting in the desk beside her handing her a pair of scissors. Kassie took them and offered her a smile, which she returned. She clipped her bag free and pulled out her book.

She glanced back at Jon who still wore a smirk on his face and she glared at him.

"Mr. Smith," Mr. Murga said, Jon looked startled and turned toward the front of the class. "Why don't you come up here and write on the board the different steps of the scientific method," he said. Kassie could see the knowing look in his eye that said he knew more than he was letting on.

Jon stood up without question and walked to the board. Kassie glanced at her classmates, several of whom were snickering at Jon being singled out while the others were just watching. She looked at the chalk on the board and a small smile came to her face. 'lutum' she whispered behind her hand, focusing on the chalk. It was a spell she had used frequently over the last few years.

When Jon went to write on the board, he found that he was unable to as the chalk didn't work properly. He grabbed the other pieces of chalk and attempted to write with them, but to no avail. Mr. Murga grabbed the chalk to write and after a quick whisper from Kassie he found he was able to write just fine. When Jon grabbed the chalk again, it didn't work, causing laughter to ripple throughout the class and Jon's face to redden with embarrassment.

"Why don't you return to your seat," Mr. Murga said with a small chuckle at the student's misfortune.

Jon turned and headed back to his seat, glaring at Kassie as he passed. It was obvious that he knew she had done something, although he couldn't prove it.

The next day had pushed Kassie over the edge. Jon who was determined to get back at her for the chalk incident had found a way to die the ends of her hair black. In retaliation Kassie loosened the bolts on Jon's chair, which, much to her horror, wasn't Jon's chair at all, but rather Mr. Murga's. Mr. Murga had flown backwards and landed hard on his back. The class laughed rambunctiously and Kassie turned vibrant red with fear settling in her gut, afraid of her punishment. However, unlike any other teacher, Mr. Murga didn't punish her. Instead, while still lying on the floor, he laughed. He pulled himself off the floor and patted Kassie on the shoulder.

"Well done Miss Black, although I will probably have to get you back for that one," he said with a kind smile.

Kassie smiled back at her teacher, a true smile that he had taken everything so well. "bring it on Mr. Murga," she said with her thick British accent. Her classmates looked at her surprised for they were the first words any of them had heard her speak.

A lot had changed since her first days of school. She and Jon had become friends after a boy a few years older began picking on Kassie. Jon felt that it was only hisright to pick on the young British girl and it resulted in Jon's first fist fight. The two of them had stopped pranking each other and instead gained up on their favorite teacher and their least favorite students.

Pranks had also grown and developed. They went from being simple annoying pranks such as dyed hair and chalk that wouldn't write to more serious pranks such as faux detentions from Murga and fake police raids from Jon and Kassie.

It was because of this that Kassie sat rooted to her desk, tears streaming down her face. The teacher that stood in front of her Sophomore Chemistry class wasn't Mr. Murga, but a man named Thorton.

"I'll be teaching your Chemistry class for the remainder of the year. I'm very sorry about your teacher, Mr. Murga, other's have had nothing but good things to say about him," Mr. Thorton said after announcing that Murga had been murdered. "Now my class will be different than his. There will be absolutely no electronic devices in this class, if I see any sort of cassette player I will destroy it. Any late assignments will not be graded, you will simply receive a zero. There will be absolutely no talking unless you are called on. There will be no bathroom passes, if you need to use the restroom you must go in the ten minutes between classes –"

"Who the hell are you?"

The rest of Thorton's sentence was cut off by the entrance of Mr. Murga from the back of the classroom. The small class burst out laughing, by now being used to his jokes and realizing that he set it up. Kassie however wiped her face and frowned, looking down at her desk. She could slowly feel the walls that she had worked so hard breaking down starting to build back up at the thought of losing someone else she loved, someone she considered family.

Kassie sat in a numb silence throughout the class, her anger building at the prank of her teacher. She hated the thought of death. It brought back so many heart wrenching memories. The numbers of people who were killed in front of her, killed becauseof her. The loss of her parents. At the thought of death, she was a small little girl stuck back in that prison cell at Lestrange Manor. She was alone doing her best to survive. As she sat there, she felt it. That weird burning coursing through her veins, except this time it was stronger.

"Kassie calm down," Jon's voice came from her side with a hint of panic.

Kassie glared at her friend and Jon's eyes widened in surprise.

"Cover your face," he said quickly, causing Kassie to realize her eyes were glowing the same way they always did when she was emotional and angry.

She looked back down at her desk, taking deep breaths, trying to get herself to calm down. She was relieved when the bell finally rang and the class filed out of the room until it was only her and Jon left with Mr. Murga.

Kassie grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" she asked as she approached her teacher's desk, her accent that had become Americanized over the last four years coming out stronger than ever.

"Kassie –" Murga began, but was cut off.

"Do you think death is funny? Did you think acting like you had been murdered is funny?" she shouted. "People die Murga, for real. People die every day. Some people die horrible deaths and you're mocking it?"

Anger was rippling off of her in waves, but Kassie didn't care. The glass window in the classroom shattered as papers that had been handed in at the end of class began flying off Murga's desk. He stepped back in surprise, his eyes wide.

"Kassie please calm down," Jon said as he grabbed her arm. He couldn't hold her for long because he fell to the ground yelping in pain.

Kassie turned to her friend, her eyes wide as she realized she had sent a shock wave through his body. Mr. Murga dropped to the ground beside Jon who was groaning in pain. Kassie started reaching for Jon but was stopped when Murga shouted "don't!".

Someone put their hand on Kassie's shoulder and she could feel herself calming, simply by his presence. "Kassie…. Cub… take a few deep breaths." She did as he said and could feel herself start to calm. She was relieved as Murga helped Jon into a chair.

"I'm fine," Jon said quietly offering Kassie a small smile.

Remus's hand brushed across Kassie's face and she realized she had started crying.

Jon stood up and gave Kassie a hug, holding her tightly. "It's alright."

They watched as Mr. Murga sat down behind is desk and looked at them contemplatively.

"You're a wizard," Remus said to Murga without question.

Murga nodded "you are as well I suppose. How'd you know?"

Remus nodded "you weren't surprised that magic existed, simply that that much magic came from a fifteen-year-old girl."

Murga gave a small chuckle before turning serious. "I'm sorry Kassie, I had no idea how much the prank would upset you," he said and Kassie could see the honestly in his eyes.

Remus frowned "what prank?"

Murga shook his head "I brought in a new teacher and made the class believe that I had been killed," he said guiltily.

Remus's frown deepened. "Well that was a bit cruel," he said coldly, causing both Kassie and Jon to look at him in surprise. Remus got along well with everyone, but he and Murga had been friends for the last two years.

"I know… I didn't realize you had personal experience with it Kassie, I really am sorry."

"You didn't realize she had personal experience, yet you know she's being raised by her uncle?" Remus asked. He sighed and turned to his niece and her friend. "You two should get to class… Jon you should be fine, but if there's any left-over pain I have something you can take at home… and Kassie if you start losing control again, just walk straight home."

The two of them nodded and grabbed their bags before leaving the room. They looked at each other briefly before kneeling on the ground and pressing their ears against the door to better hear the conversation.

"Did you have any idea that Kassie was a witch?" Remus asked Murga.

"none, not until today anyways…" there was a pause in the conversation and Kassie assumed that Remus must have nodded. "I don't mean to be blunt, but is she an obscurus?"

Kassie looked at Jon, her eyes widening in surprise. She had read about obscurus's before, but they were always caused by repressed magic in young children. She couldn't remember a time when her magic was repressed, even at Lestrange Manor she was encouraged to use it.

"No," Remus replied quickly. "She's always been incredibly powerful... Ever since she was little she had an extraordinary amount of control over her wandless magic, something that makes her a target."

The room went silent and Kassie could feel herself growing nervous. She remembered when Jon found out she was a witch and when Erin, Jon's mother, found out. Remus had a serious conversation with them as well, even threatened to perform a memory charm on them.

"Did you flee from something?" Murga asked. "That would explain why she has experience with death and why the two of you are so reserved," he said and Kassie could practically see the smug expression on Murga's face at having figured out some big secret.

Remus sighed "yes, she was young when her parents were murdered and we've been on the run ever since… You can't tell anyone that you know her or even of a young witch in this town," he said and Kassie could hear the threat behind his words.

"I won't," Murga said honestly. "Remus, I don't mean to sound callous, but my family knew of the Blacks in England and well they weren't a very good family during the war against Grindelwald."

There was another pause, both Kassie and Jon were craning their necks to hear.

"Black is a very common muggle name," Remus said, implying that it wasn't truly their name. The two heard footsteps on the other side of the door before they stood and bolted towards their next class.

The conversation had been simple enough, but Kassie found herself hoping that Murga would keep her secret, she didn't want to leave again, not when she had found a new home.

They met every Wednesday night. It had become a tradition over the last three years. About a year after moving to Florence, Kassie thought it was the right time to try and set up Remus, help him move on from Natalie and give him someone to hang out with when Kassie was gone. It was then that Kassie remembered Jon's mom was single and she concocted a plan with Jon's younger sister to set them up.

It was unfortunate that no romantic relationship had developed. The two of them were far too different in personality, but a friendship had formed and in the end Remus did have someone else to be around when Kassie was gone, which was her goal in the first place.

They started meeting every Wednesday night for dinner and games, as they got to know each other the two small families got closer and began thinking of each other as family. When it came out that they were all magical, Remus and Erin decided to combine trainings, given that they were each talented in various areas. Soon Wednesdays went from dinner and muggle games, to dinner and wizard games. Sometimes they'd play quidditch, sometimes they'd have potion competitions, sometimes they'd duel. The purpose that Erin and Remus always talked about, was to get the three kids to practice magic and learn it in a fun way, rather than in the boring way that would happen every other night of the week and on weekends.

Tonight was different, it wasn't the small group of 5, but rather a small group of 6 as Remus thought it was a good idea to invite Mr. Murga. It was innocent enough, at least it seemed innocent enough. Now that they knew he was a part of the wizarding community, they may as well invite them to join in the festivities. Maybe then they'd be closer to an actual game of quidditch. Kassie knew that wasn't the real reason though, the real reason for them joining in their Wednesday night was so that Remus could get a better read on Murga and ensure that they were safe in the small town of Florence. If there was one thing they learned throughout the years, it was that you should keep your secrets close and those who know your secrets even closer.

It was awkward at first, as much as they loved Mr. Murga, they couldn't help feeling odd about talking about magic in front of him.

"Are you both getting ready to take your OWLs?" Murga asked.

"We take them at the end of the year," Jon said with a small smile before shoving a large forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.

"Are you getting nervous?"

"Not particularly," Kassie said with a small glance at her friend who was now absorbed in his meal.

Murga raised his eyebrows in surprise and Kassie knew why, while they were both good students, neither of them were A students in their muggle courses, especially science.

Kassie rolled her eyes "we may not be good with muggle stuff, but that's because we're magical and would rather be spending our time practicing magic or studying magic… we're quite adept in our wizarding courses" She said with a bite in her tone, still bitter about the prank that he played on them.

"may I be excused?" Kassie asked Remus, not giving Murga time to respond. Remus gave her a sad smile, but nodded.

Kassie pushed her chair back and left the room, taking the steps two at a time up through her room and to the bathroom. She stood at the sink staring at her reflection. Her green eyes were duller than normal, her red hair messier than normal. She had been struggling recently, which she knew was ridiculous. He had played a prank on them, a prank that most of the class had found funny. It's what they did, play pranks on each other. It's what got her to open up here in Florence and helped her grow close to Jon. And it wasn't really Murga's fault, he didn't know her past and her fears. Jon never would have played a prank like that, but he knew that Kassie had nightmares involving him being brutally murdered by men in black cloaks. He knew that Kassie was afraid they were going to find her after years of searching. He knew that she spent three years living in Hell and two years running for her life. Murga didn't know any of that, so why would he have thought differently about pulling that prank?

Kassie took a deep breath and sighed, she needed to give him another chance, maybe tell him more so that he would understand. She threw water in her face before leaving the bathroom. As she entered her room she couldn't help the snort that escaped her lips. Jon was lying on her bed with her dog lying on top of his stomach. Both Jon and the dog, Bumper, looked at Kassie as she entered the room, but neither of them made an attempt to move or get up.

Kassie sat on her bed and reached out to pet Bumper, who tilted his head towards the touch. He was truly the laziest dog Kassie had ever seen. All he did was eat and sleep.

"They want us to duel," Jon said with a smirk. "Murga gives dueling lessons and says that's what he wants to see if he can help us with."

Kassie snorted "is he any good at astronomy? Or ancient runes? That's really what we need help with," she said.

Jon simply shrugged. He made to sit up, but was unable to because of the 65-pound lab laying across his stomach. He started wiggling, trying to dislodge the dog, but there was no success. Kassie watched him struggle for a few moments longer before she laughed and made her way out the bedroom door.

"Komme" she said as she left the room and the dog instantly jumped off the bed and trotted after her. When she started high school she decided to take a Norwegian course and when she got Bumper she decided to train him in that language, falling more and more in love with it.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Bumper jumped on the couch and was instantly asleep. Kassie and Jon made their way into the living room, finding Remus, Murga, and Erin laughing about something, each having their wands in their hands.

"What's so funny?" Kassie asked as she took the spot next to her dog, patting him lazily on his head.

"Remus was just telling us some stories about school," Murga said after catching his breath.

Kassie smirked at her Uncle, knowing full well he had plenty of stories to tell and odds were that he altered them for secrecy reasons and to make himself seem more innocent than he was.

"So tonight we thought we'd do dueling," Remus said before Kassie had the opportunity to interject.

"I heard you were an expert, Mr. Murga," Kassie said innocently, still patting her dog.

Murga looked at her curiously, knowing her well enough to know when she was hiding something. "I don't know that I'm an expert, but I've taught students before," he said simply. I hold a dueling club a few times a month with other wizarding students in the area."

Kassie nodded "Jon first."

Jon glared at Kassie, but stepped up to the middle of the room. Murga reminded him of the proper etiquette in dueling before asking him about his skill level in nonverbal spells and more advanced spellwork. Jon had a good deal of experience from practicing with Kassie and Remus, but he still hadn't managed to get a handle on nonverbal spells.

The duel began simply, each of them throwing minor jinxes, testing each other out. Kassie knew that Jon was far more powerful than he was showing, when she would duel with him, he could definitely make her sweat. They started throwing more powerful jinxes, quicker. If there was anything Jon was good at it was dodging. After a few minutes, Murga got the better of him, causing Jon to lose his wand and land on his rear end.

"That was excellent Jon," Murga began a large smile on his face. "you are definitely advanced for your age, and you are excellent at dodging, but I do see areas for improvement." He finished, helping Jon to his feet.

"Thank you sir," Jon said, stretching and shaking off the after effects of the spell.

"I think the first area we can work on is non verbal spells. Since you have to say out-loud, it gives me an advantage, knowing what's coming, but if you can learn to do them silently then you'll actually be able to hold your own against any opponent, not that you'll ever really have an opponent," Murga said with a small laugh.

Kassie looked at him sharply, noticing Remus do the same. Jon simply grimaced and took a seat on the other side of Bumper.

Kassie stood up and made her way to the center of the room "There's a reason dueling is so important Murga… You mentioned your family was involved in the fight against Grindelwald, don't you think it was good that they knew how to fight?"

Murga looked startled at how up front she was. He had been seeing a lot more of Kassie than he was used to and still cared about her dearly, but it seemed that he always seemed to make things worse with her.

"All I meant was that you both are still young, it's unlikely that you'll be involved in a war like that… What we want to teach you is the best way to duel an opponent cleanly and courteously."

Kassie scoffed "Dueling isn't a game and it isn't courteous. When you're in war it's about saving others and staying alive – "

"There's no war and the odds of you being involved in a war are very slim, you're children, not training to be MACUSA." He cut her off and said bluntly.

Kassie gave him a small smile, which seemed to be more pitying. Kassie could see Remus standing and stepping slightly closer. Kassie wasn't sure if it was to stop her or to back her up.

"let's duel, shall we?" She said "no preparation, just duel."

Murga looked at her hesitantly

"what? I'm a kid, you trust me don't you?" She asked.

"Of course," Murga said, still looking suspicious.

The duel began in a polite way, they held their wands, they bowed, they walked to their starting position. It was something that Kassie knew would never happen in a real duel. They counted to three and Murga was the first to throw a spell.

For the first two minutes, Kassie simply dodged and deflected the curses. Murga stepped it up and began sending spells non-verbally. Kassie still dodged them easily and before long she started fighting back. Throwing simple jinxes, trip jinxes, funny charms. Murga fought a little harder and Kassie had a feeling he was trying to teach her a lesson, maybe that she was a child who knew nothing of real life. She fought back even harder and began sending one stunning spell after another. She couldn't deny that Murga was a decent fighter, he could hold his own.

Kassie started firing spells that seemed to take Murga by surprise. The spells she had learned as a little girl, not necessarily dark spells, but spells that were uncommon among the general population. Murga fought even harder and managed to set Kassie off guard with an 'expelliarmus,' causing Kassie's wand to go flying. Murga took a deep breath and sent her a small smile. Kassie used the moment to catch him off guard and sent him flying backward and into the wall, landing with a thud on the ground. Kassie summoned her wand to her hand, walked over to Murga and held her wand to his neck.

"Never trust a survivor until you know what they did to survive," she said quietly before turning and taking her seat on the couch.

Kassie could feel eyes boring into the side of her head and knew that hat Remus was glaring at her or at least giving her an exasperated look, but Kassie didn't care. Murga may have known people involved in the war, but he had no idea what was truly out there.