disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, just Arabella and her story. These next couple chapter you will learn a lot about Kassandra and her family. I hope you all like it!
Kassandra Aminta Anastas Part I
I'm going to start from the beginning, so please bear with me here. My mind is spinning right now and my memories all jumbled up. I want to tell you everything and leave nothing out. I want you to know who I am through my writing since I cannot be there to tell you.
I was born to Hekabe Christos and Isaak Anastas, both Greek and half-bloods. They've known each other since they were both in Hogwarts. Isaak was in Gryffindor while Hekabe was in Ravenclaw. They were both sorted in the same year and became best friends during their second. When they left Hogwarts, they never got married, but stayed close with each other. They didn't have any romantic feelings towards one another, but they did get drunk one night. Nine months later, I was born!
I was the image of my mother, but with my father's eyes. Isaak had sandy brown-blonde hair that just reached a little bit past his ears and deep brown eyes. He always looked good for his age, barely any wrinkles or saggy skin. He was handsome in old age. My mother looked just like me with hazel eyes. She also looked very good as the years went on, but she looked exhausted most of the time. Though I knew they never had feelings for each other, I still appreciated that fact that they still had me and tried to make it work. I lived with Hekabe most of the time and visited Isaak whenever I could. At first I went over during the weekends, but as the years went on, I visited him whenever I wanted to. This was because I wanted to get away from my stepfather, Abel Torell.
I love Hekabe. I love her so much, but she can be pretty stupid sometimes, and her biggest mistake was marrying Abel barely a year after I was born. He never did any physical damage towards me, but he never let me forget that I was my mother's drunken mistake, and he took great joy in that. I was a constant reminder for him that Hekabe was with someone else before him. I think it really irked him and he took it out on me.
I hated him, but I never said anything. Hekabe loved him a lot and they had a child together. November 11th, 1961 was the day my little sister was born. Arabella Antheia Torell. She looked like me, but with Abel's blue eyes. It looked better on her than it did on him. After she was born, there was no convincing Hekabe into leaving Abel. It also didn't quite help that he was only mean to me. It didn't bother me after a while. As long as Hekabe and Arabella were happy, I didn't quite mind. I could just go over to Isaak's house if I really wanted to. But I did take great pleasure in pointing out that Abel was the only non-magic one out of all of us. Me, Hekabe, Isaak and Arabella were all wizards, but he was the odd one out. He was ecstatic when I got my letter to Hogwarts and I had to be gone for months. But when Arabella got her letter two years later, he was really jealous. I used to really like pointing this out to him as a child. I guess I still did as I grew older. He was a cranky old sod.
There were two people in my life at that time I truly loved. One being Arabella, my sweet little sister, and the other being Isaak, someone who I both loved and respected with all my heart. Every moment I spent with him was fantastic. We did all sorts of things together. He took me to the beach, the carnival, Diagon Alley and wherever I wanted to go. Sometimes Arabella would come along with us. She told once in secret that she preferred Isaak to Abel. She loved Abel to a certain point, but he could be moody and unpleasant and rarely ever did things like what Isaak would do with me. I rejoiced when she told me that, but I never said anything to Abel. I wasn't that cruel. Isaak treated Arabella like she was his own flesh and blood. It was surely a sight, seeing the three of us together. I sometimes pretended like we were a big, happy family.
After I got my letter to Hogwarts, Isaak took me to Diagon Alley to get my first want and bought me an owl. Her name was Kuria and she used to drive Abel crazy. Arabella was very jealous, of course, and couldn't wait for the day when she got her own wand and owl.
The day I headed off to Hogwarts was like a dream. I met my best friends, Remus Lupin and Lily Evans on the train. Lily was sitting with her other friend at the time, but she was fantastic and I was so happy when we both got sorted into the same house. She had a certain tenacity that was admirable. For the whole train ride, I spent most of my time with Remus. He was quiet at first, but I eventually got him to open up a little. We just talked about random things kids did like which house we wanted to be sorted into and different types of candy and everything we could think of. He was so easy to talk to and just made me feel so comfortable around. I also met James Potter and Sirius Black. I got along with James, I thought he was funny, but, your father, not so much. In fact, we hated each other. I'll got more into that later.
When we finally arrived at Hogwarts, the castle took my breath away. It was beautiful and magnificent. I was sorted into Gryffindor, like my father, as did Remus, Lily, James and Sirius. Being at Hogwarts was some of the best times of my life. I made other friends like Alice Smith, Frank Longbottom, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, and Peter Pettigrew.
Me, Fabian and Gideon was sort of pranksters during our time there. We had our own little group, while Remus, James, Sirius and Peter had theirs. We weren't on the level as those guys, but we held our own. I used to joke that Remus betrayed my heart for ever siding with Sirius. It was all in good fun, though. Sometimes, we would have little prank wars between the seven of us. Once in a while, Alice, Frank or Lily would join in. If it involved getting James back, Lily was all for it. McGonagall would always get mad at us for any damage we did to the castle. She would yell and scream and assign detention with a snap of her fingers. The longest detention I think I got was for about 2 months. I accidently set off some firecrackers during a lesson. She was practically fuming herself.
Anyway, two years later and Arabella finally arrived at Hogwarts. To my joy, she was sorted into Gryffindor. I was so proud and happy the moment she sat down next to me during the feast. She got along with everyone instantly. It was hard not getting along with her. She made friends easily and had a certain ability for making the people she talked to feel special. She was one of a kind, that's for sure. She even got along with Sirius and this was during the time I absolutely hated him. Out of all of us, she was smitten with Remus. If you ask him, he'll probably deny everything, but don't listen to him. He was a little bit smitten too. There was something definitely doing on between them.
So, I mentioned before that your father and I didn't get along very much. I don't know how it started, honestly. It's been so many years. It must have happened on our first train ride to Hogwarts, but we just didn't like each other. Lily was sometimes annoyed with James, but she never hated him. Alice and Frank were practically inseparable since the start of our fourth year. But with your father, there was just something there that made us not get long. We pulled tricks on each other, insulted each other every chance we got, and did things and said things we can't take back. Everyone tried to get us to be civil towards each other. James thought that it would be a good idea for us to talk about how much we liked Big Ben's Brother or how much we disliked Slughorn – that didn't work. Remus thought it would be a good idea for us to drink together and work it out then – that REALLY didn't work.
In the beginning of our fifth year, we were working on a Transfiguration assignment. McGonagall assigned partners and that's when everything got worse. Somehow, we ended up arguing, like we always do, and we began yelling at each other. I insulted his family for the first time and he had nothing to say back to him. He just glared and left the room. It was James who told me what happened over the summer. Sirius left his house after an argument and his parents disowned him. I was so ashamed of myself and I felt terrible for what I said.
I apologized to him as soon as I could and we both made an effort in being civil towards one another. After a while, being civil wasn't much of an effort. It just came natural and we ended up becoming friends pretty quickly. Sometimes I wish this happened sooner, us becoming friends. I wish we didn't spend so many years being cruel to each other. We would pull pranks on the others and just talk to each other about anything. He would talk about his parents and I would talk about mine. We understood each other when it came to family matters. It felt like years since someone understood my relationship with Hekabe, Isaak and Abel. Remus tried, Lily came close and Arabella didn't quite get it. But Sirius knew and he listened and, most of all, he understood me.
During the summer, we wrote to each other. We wrote about any and everything we could possible think of. Sometimes it would be just the most mundane thing possible. But we always made sure we wrote to each other. When we went back for our sixth year, I felt happier than I had been in years. I supposed I grew to fancy him a little.
A couple months into our sixth year and he asked me out on a date. He did it very casually and very elegantly, two qualities he possessed with ease. But I knew he was nervous about my answer. I think it was because of the fact that I might reject him and we would go back to where we were a year ago. He didn't want that and neither did I. I said yes and never regretted it.
The date was a complete disaster. The weather was terrible. It was raining the whole time and the wind was so cold, I was sure it was going to cut my skin. The Three Broomsticks was packed. Arabella, Remus, James and Peter kept showing up and interrupted us. I could tell by the end of it, Sirius was kicking himself. He tried his best to make everything perfect, but everything was working against him. As we headed back to the castle, I took him aside behind the pub and kissed him. The look on his face was priceless. We've been together ever since that day.
As I said before, Arabella was pretty smitten with Remus. They were really close. Some of us thought they were just friends, others thought a little bit more. I was firmly on the side that thought they were fiends, nothing more. Until one day me and James caught them snogging in the corridor. Their faces were so red and for the first time ever, Arabella had nothing to say. I was initially shocked and slightly angry that neither of them told me. But it was Remus, he wasn't going to hurt her, and Arabella would never hurt an ant, much less Remus. I knew they were going to make each other happy, no matter what. Also, me and James always found a way to tease them for their little "escapade".
Abel ever liked any of my friends. He especially hated Sirius because we used to go out during the summer holiday. He complained about Remus once in front of Arabella and she set him straight at that very moment. After that, he waited for them to leave the house before complaining about Remus's clothes or anything he could find wrong. I never particularly cared about anything he had to say. He was going to complain no matter what. He hated having more wizards in the house. Though it did make it harder for Lily or Alice to come sleepover. Hekabe, for the most part, liked all my friends, but wasn't particularly taken with Sirius. I think it was because I complained about him for so many years and then I showed up one day holding his hands. It took a while for her to come around to the idea of Sirius, but she got there eventually. She really liked Lily and Alice, and thought they were utterly fantastic witches. Isaak got along with everybody, and everybody really liked him. They really liked the fact that he was an Auror and had cool scars. Fabian and Gideon kept asking him about his job and kept bothering him.
During our sixth year is also when Alice and Frank started going on, but we all saw that coming, honestly. To me, they've been going on since our fourth year. It was just a matter of time before they made it official, I suppose. As for Lily and James, they just needed sometime. He asked her out a couple times over the years, but always got rejected every time. He tried to brush it off, but I knew it used to eat him up inside, all those rejections. In our final year, it was Lily who asked him out! It was in the Gryffindor common room and we were all beyond shocked. It was good she did it in the common room or none of us would have believed him. Out of all of us, James was the most shocked. Once he had agreed and she left the room, he did a victory dance, despite all our protests.
During all these good times, Voldemort began his rise to power. It began during our fifth year. Nobody knew who he was or why he was doing all these damages. He was just starting to make a name for himself. Over the years, we learned of his mission and the way of life he wanted to implement into the wizarding world. We didn't agree with his pureblood agenda, though some did. After a while, people started called him "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." It was stupid, but understandable. Many innocent people died because of him and many were scared they were going to be next.
After we graduated from Hogwarts, Dumbledore asked us if we wanted to join his secret society, The Order of the Phoenix. We all opposed everything Voldemort and his followers stood for. Me, Sirius, Remus, Lily, James, Peter, Alice, Frank, Fabian and Gideon accepted at once and we were soon initiated. Isaak was already a member at the time. Dumbledore apparently thought Isaak when he was younger and immediately recruited him during Voldemort's initial rise. Isaak opposed Voldemort and was not quiet about it. Every chance he got, he voiced his opinion about why Voldemort was wrong and what he was fighting for was not right. I admired his bravery, but I was scared for him. Sometimes, I just wished he would shut up.
I was happy joining The Order of the Phoenix. We all fought for what we believed, and we weren't going to stop. Me, Sirius, James, Alice, Frank, Fabian and Gideon applied to become Aurors and we were trained by Moody himself. Lily went to St. Mungo's, training to become a Healer, while Remus tried to find any job that would hire a werewolf. After a while, James left the program after hearing that his parent's health began to decline. He spent most of his time either working for the Order or taking care of his parents. Sirius left after him. Being an Auror just wasn't for him. Alice left after her father was killed in a Muggle riot to take her of her heartbroken mother. Lily left the Healer program to spend more time for the Order. The Order came first, no matter what, that's what we told ourselves. The Order fought for a better future. The Ministry was slowly beginning to crumple. People were turning up dead, some disappearing. But we fought no matter what. We had to.
As soon as we were initiated, me and Sirius bought a house in Godric's Hollow together. Isaak already lied there and we thought it would be a good idea for us to stay close. James and Lily moved there as well after the death of James's family. I don't think Sirius and James wanted to be too far away from each other either. Couple months after we moved in, Sirius proposed. We got married on February 1st, 1978. Isaak and Hekabe weren't glad to hear that we were getting married so young, but they didn't try to stop us. I think deep down they understood, Hekabe more so than Isaak. Nobody knew how long they were going to live. We could just disappear or die at any point. Arabella attended the wedding, even though she was still at Hogwarts. We didn't have time to get maid of honours or groomsmen. It was a really simple ceremony behind Isaak's house with Moody officiating it. We invited a handful of people, but it was still amazing. We made the right decision. After the war is over, I would like to have a bigger ceremony, to celebrate us and to celebrate the end of the war. I think Sirius would like that as well. A couple months later, James and Lily, and Frank and Alice got married. The war did not stop, not even for our weddings.
Once Arabella graduated Hogwarts, she joined the Order as well. She was sharp with a wand and she fought with every fiber of her being. One of her friends, Barty Crouch, stopped contacting her after graduating and another one, Sylvia Summers, turned up dead in a shack up North. Arabella was heartbroken, but that never stopped her from fighting for what she believed in, and she believed in a good future for the next generation of kids. She once told me she didn't like fighting and the war, but she hated standing by even more.
She had such high hopes that the war was going to end and that the outcome will be in our favour. She believed that, at the end of the day, the light and love was going to win. She was so good and pure and full of hope.
She was the first one of us to die. August 6th, 1978.
Death Eaters were terrorizing Diagon Alley. They were showing their support towards Voldemort. They wanted to prove that they were worthy. By the time we got there, all hell broke loose. Buildings were on fire, people were running all over the place. Men, women and children were crying and screaming before they were silenced by the Killing Curse. Some of us fought and stood our ground, others tried to evacuate the others. But we were outnumbered. I was fighting Rabastan Lestrange at the time and I was so caught up with him that I didn't notice what was going on with Arabella.
She was fighting Antonin Dolohov. Killing Curse straight to the chest.
By this time, Aurors began flooding the Alley. We tried to round them all, but they slipped through our fingers. Gideon was the one that witnessed Arabella's death. He identified who killed her.
Nothing was the same after that. Everything hurt was so fucking painful. I couldn't standing being in a room if anybody mentioned her. She was my little sister. Lily would get unusually quiet if someone mentioned her. Sirius would get so furious. James would leave the house and smoke a cigarette. We were all trying to quit, but it did help with some of our nerves. Remus was the only one who took it just as hard as I did. He was distant from us for so many months. He quit his job and stayed home, barring the door and keeping us out. At that point, I think he was waiting for the full moon. He sort of embraced it. Sirius and James managed to somewhat snap him out of it. They found a way into his basement after a full moon and brought them to my and Sirius's house. He lived with us for a while until he got back on his feet. It took a while for the both of us. We reached a new understanding in our friendship. I enjoyed him staying over and I think he did as well. He understood me the most out of everyone.
Things became easier. We were all busy with Order missions and duties. I was struggling to keep with the Order and with being an Auror. Remus began volunteering for a lot of missions, sometimes going out of the country, but he never told any of the nature of his missions. It was all very top secret between him and Dumbledore. Nobody ever mentioned Arabella again. That sort of pain, that sort of loss, it just doesn't go away. She was my little sister and my heart broke every time someone eve whispered her name.
The worst part was definitely telling Hekabe and Abel. For all his terrible faults, Abel loved Arabella the way he never loved me. He didn't believe us at first, but once he did, he went ballistic on us. He threw us out of the house and threatened to have us thrown into jail for every stepping foot on his land. He blamed us. That was something we both agreed on. Hekabe didn't register it at the time. I don't know what she was thinking at the time. Then she went to go see Isaak. God, my heart broke all over again seeing her face. She never got over it. Not once.
We buried her in Godric's Hollow after a couple months. I wanted her close by.
We were all busy with Order work but I wanted to do something more. I hated waiting for the war to end. I wanted revenge on all of them. Not just Dolohov – all the Death Eaters and Voldemort. In the end, it all goes back to him. He was the reason why his Death Eaters were terrorizing Diagon Alley. If it wasn't for any of them, Arabella would be alive.
I asked Dumbledore, Moody and Isaak if there was something I could do, something to make the war end sooner and stop all the madness. There was this plan. A plan for someone to become a Death Eater and get closer to Voldemort. All I had to do was get close to a known Death Eater, prove that I believed in what they were fighting for and gain their trust. After that, I had to get close to Voldemort, gain his trust and prove my loyalty. I had to pretend I was a spy on Dumbledore's side, while actually being a spy on Voldemort's side. My true loyalties were with the Order and my sister.
Isaak hated it. He did everything he could during that meeting to stop it from happening. He almost cursed Dumbledore and Moody before realizing there was no changing my mind. He was defeated and angry. Sirius was utterly furious. He thought that I didn't care about myself, that I didn't care about the people around me and that I didn't care about him. We fought for hours and I left the house that night. I stayed with Remus for a couple months. When I started the mission, I was still staying with me. After a while, Remus kicked me out of the house and I went back home. We sort of made up and Sirius came to terms with the mission. We just never brought it up again.
For the mission I became friends with Evan Rosier. The idiot had a crush on me when we were in school. It was easy becoming friends with him. I met him at the Ministry one day. He was walking around, acting like he owned the place. I asked him if he wanted to get a drink during lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. He happily agreed and I casually mentioned that I thought purebloods were superior and that Muggleborns needed to learn their place in society. I was completely disgusted with myself, but I kept going and Rosier was so excited. I kept meeting him for a couple more days and we talked and talk about the war and our values and beliefs. For a while, nothing was really happening and I thought the mission at this point was a bust, but he came back on the tenth day saying Voldemort was interested in seeing me.
There have only been three times I was truly terrified in my life. Once when me, Arabella, and our neighbourhood friend were playing on the street. We weren't paying attention and a car hit Joanna. I was around seven at the time. Another was when I saw Remus transform for the first time. His face was full of pain and suffering and I wanted to take it all away. Nobody should ever have to go through that. The third time was when I came face-to-face with Voldemort himself. God, he made my skin crawl. He questioned me about every single aspect of my life. He asked me about Isaak and I lied, saying that he was barely a wizard and a worthless father. He asked me about Sirius and I said that he was not the man I first married. I told Voldemort that Isaak, Moody and Dumbledore let me down the moment my sister was killed and that I wanted revenge. I said weak men like them don't win wars, men like Voldemort do. I was skilled in Occlumency at the time, Moody thought me, so I didn't have to worry about him entering my mind and trying to detect me lies. But his looks were terrifying and they made me worry that he could sense I was lying through my voice or my face or eyes. He then asked me what I was prepared to do. He was happy with my answer.
I wasn't a Death Eater right away. I needed to prove myself. He kept me close and didn't introduce me to the others, but they knew I was there. Rosier had a big mouth. Whenever the Death Eaters caused a rally, I was there, pretending to fight for something I didn't believe in. Voldemort didn't ask me to do a lot in the first couple months. We mostly talked about the rally and strategies we could improve on for the future. He wanted me to watch the others and learn from them. I learned some of the dates and locations, and I knew about some of the Death Eater's missions, like if they were going somewhere to recruit more people.
Sometime around June 1979, there was another rally. It was in the Muggle part of London and it was terrible. The Ministry had a hard time cleaning it up. It was worse than the one in Diagon Alley. I was standing beside Voldemort for a while, watching the chaos. Innocent kids and families were getting squashed by trolls. Voldemort told me I needed to prove my loyalties. He told me that strategizing with him was not enough. I needed to do something more. So I covered my face and joined the other Death Eaters. It was sickening and maddening. There were so many people already dead on the streets. I found a man that was in agony. The lower part of his body was squashed by a troll and he was going to die anyways. I told myself that I put him out of his misery.
At that point, I knew I couldn't do it anymore. I wasn't like the rest of them. I wasn't fine with killing or torturing people like that. I knew that I was going to be asked to do that more and I never wanted to do it ever again. I wanted revenge for my sister, but I didn't want to kill innocent people along the way. I wasn't like those other Death Eaters. I couldn't do it anymore. I had to get out of the mission.
Two weeks after that day, I found out I was pregnant. I was relieved. The baby was my ticket out of the mission, but it was a horrible time to be pregnant. It was the middle of the way and I was still associated with Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I told Isaak, Dumbledore and Moody right away. We decided that I should no longer continue with the mission and I was beyond relieved. I kept the pregnancy a secret for a while until the four of us could secure our safety.
But then one of the Death Eaters found out and told Voldemort. Dumbledore got tipped off from another source and Voldemort knew before Sirius. Dumbledore, Isaak and Moody took immediate action. Our house in Godric's Hollow was placed under the Fidelius Charm with Lily and James as our Secret Keepers. It was all in a blur. Everything changed in an instant. I was now forced into hiding.
I told Sirius after the charm was put into place. In fact, the moment Isaak left the house, I told him. He was confused and angry at the fact that nobody was saying anything as the spell was being performed. Once I told him, he seemed happier. I think it was mostly because I didn't have to do the mission anymore. We were nervous about starting a family, but we got through it. We always did. We told the others over time. Remus was worried about us, knowing that we would both hate being locked up in the house. Hekabe seemed happy at the time, but she was still coming to terms with Arabella's death. She was growing distant from Abel and started spending more time with Isaak.
Remus was right in the end. We hated being locked up in the house. The first couple of days were fine. We acted as though we were on vacation and did whatever we wanted to do. But after a couple days, I absolutely hated it. We both didn't like staying inside while the others were out there fighting a war we believed in. We weren't allowed to leave the house unless it was for an Order meeting. Sirius had a little more freedom than me, he was allowed to leave the house if someone was accompanying him, but it wasn't much. I tried to occupy myself, but there was so much I could do before screaming. Remus, Lily and James visited as much as they could, but they had their own work for the Order. I read a lot of books, listened to some music and practice dueling with Sirius.
We never found out the gender. I wanted to keep it a secret. We never had any good surprises at the time. This was going to be it for us. We discussed many names. Sirius wanted to name you Arabella. I wasn't so keen on it at the time. I asked if he wanted to name you after a constellation to follow the Black tradition. Lyra, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Aquila. But he refused them all. He wanted to name you Arabella Kassandra Black if you were a girl. Arabella was like a sister to him and he loved her like one. Also, I'd think she'd like that. I think Arabella would have liked having both of our names together like this. But if you were a boy, I would have named you Isaak Sirius Black. Has a ring, don't you think?
You were born on February 25, 1980. The moment they placed you into my arms, I felt such a rush of happiness and bliss. It was so perfect. You looked exactly like me with Sirius's eyes. I never wanted anything more than that moment right there. All those months of being locked up were worth it the moment you opened your eyes. Remus and Lily were godparents, of course, while James was an honorary uncle. He insisted on this title. Couple months later, Harry James Potter was born. I became a mother and a godmother in a span of months during the war. And I would do it all over again.
It seemed as though things were heading towards the end of the war, with peace and love winning. But things turned worse quickly. The Potters and Longbottoms had to go into hiding as well. Isaak's big mouth got him into serious trouble and he was forced into hiding as well. Everything was taking a turn for the worse really quickly. I hoping and praying for something good to happen soon.
But Fabian and Gideon died. My brothers. They fought like heroes. They were attacked in the middle of Diagon Alley by five Death Eaters. They were highly skilled duelists, but they were outnumbered. I loved them like they were family, and they were.
Isaak and Hekabe soon followed them. They were doting grandparents. Hekabe cried when I placed you into her arms. They loved you and they smothered you with gifts. After Isaak went into hiding, he didn't get to see you as often as I would like, and neither did Hekabe. She didn't have to go, but she did. Somewhere along the line, they fell in love with each other. It happened when I was undercover. I didn't know about it until the spell was placed on Isaak's house. It would have been nice if it happened when I was younger, but I didn't complain. They seemed happy together, like it made sense for them to find each other after all those years.
Sirius and Remus went over to their house to check up on them. December 1st, 1980. The Dark Mark was looming over the house. They immediately contacted Dumbledore and Moody. Moody got me from the house and took me there. What I felt when I lost Arabella came rushing back at me. I screamed and cried when I saw the house. Voldemort did it himself. Isaak was near the front door. His wand was out, but Voldemort got the best of him. Hekabe was a few feet away and their hands were almost touching. My knuckles broke that day. My parents were gone the moment they found happiness. I wanted to curse all the gods for playing such a cruel joke on them. I buried them next to Arabella. It's what Hekabe and Isaak would have wanted. I wanted to avenge their deaths, but there was nothing I could do. Voldemort knew I betrayed him and he didn't take to traitors lightly.
So I did everything I could to preoccupy myself. Your first word was "Padfoo", did you know? Sirius almost cried for joy. I kissed you every night and made sure you fell asleep before heading to bed myself. Lily and James would try to bring Harry over whenever they could without being watched. I hoped that you and Harry would become friends when you got older. I couldn't imagine the next generation of Blacks and Potters not being friends. Sirius and James would have heart attacks.
So, this has been my life so far. I'm writing this to you a couple days before your first birthday. Sirius thinks I'm being paranoid. But I wanted you to find out about me from me, rather than strangers. I want you to know the whole trust, instead of things others might mention here and there. This is war and some people don't survive. I might one of the few that do or I might not. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are out for me. I might not ever get the chance to sit down with you and answer all your questions about my life or the people that I have loved. That's why I wrote this. I'm sorry if I have disappointed you or made you angry. I was blinded by revenge. Losing my sister was the worst thing to ever happen to me and if I don't survive this I want you to know how much I love you. I love you with every fiber of my being. You were my silver lining during this war.
Thank you for reading! I'm not planning on writing a writing an origin story of Kassandra with Sirius, Remus, etc. I am, however, in the middle of writing a piece with Mad-Eye/Isaak/Hekabe, and Kassandra will probably show up in the middle somewhere. But for the most part, this is where we really learn about Kassandra, Isaak, Hekabe, Arabella T., etc..
And now I'm going to explain some of the names and meaning, according to the website I'm using. You can read it if you want, I just really wanted to do this for some odd reason:
Arabella: 'a praying woman' and 'to pray' - went well with Arabella B. and Arabella T. when I imagined them both as characters.
Kassandra: 'to excel' or 't o shine' - when I was envisioning Arabella's mother, this name made the most sense.
Aminta: 'the defender' and 'I protect' - it went well with Kassandra as a character.
Anastas: 'resurrection'.
Hekabe: 'worker from far off' but in mythology, this is the name of the mother of Kassandra - pretty obvious.
Korina: 'maiden'.
Christos: 'servant of Christ'.
Isaak: 'he will laugh' - just fitted the character and what I imagined him to be.
Kain: 'maker' or 'smith', Greek form if Cain, but in the bible, he gets killed by his brother Abel
Antheia: 'lady of flowers' and 'a flower' - went well with Arabella T.'s character.
Abel: 'breath, vapour', but Abel is also kills Cain in the bible.
Edan: 'fire' - goes with Abel and Kassandra's relationship in a way
Torell: 'small tower'.
You didn't have to read that. I did it for my own enjoyment. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!