She was right. Grimmauld Place was amazing.
Cassi couldn't help but gape at everything around her, from the cobwebbed chandeliers to the rich carpets to the elegant furniture. Obviously, the Black family had not been lacking in money, though maybe in servants, given the condition of the place. Everything was in as good of a condition as could be expected from a once-lavish mansion that had been left neglected for several decades. Some rooms and corridors were blocked off entirely; Sirius told her that they'd been working on making the place fit for human habitation again.
"Wait, 'we'? Who else is here?" asked Cassi eagerly. Newly liberated from her horrible guardian, she wanted to see as many people as she could. Sirius smiled a little at her enthusiasm. He opened his mouth to reply, but an amused voice from behind them cut him off.
"No one you'd recognize, I'm sure." But Cassi recognized the voice and whirled around. Leaning against the doorframe was a smiling Remus Lupin, the same tall, scarred professor Cassi remembered fondly from last year. She smiled hugely and crushed him in a hug. He chuckled and hugged her back.
"Thought you'd gotten rid of me, didn't you?" he said teasingly. Cassi was about to reply when someone else came through the doorway. Cassi stepped back to see someone else she recognized. "Professor Moody!" she greeted him happily. Unlike most of the students, Cassi had liked Moody's style of teaching. It was informative and never boring, which made it perfect for right after Divination.
The grizzled one-legged Auror gave a grunt in return. "What, Lupin gets a hug and I don't?" he demanded gruffly, but with a twinkle in his one good eye. Cassi raised an eyebrow and opened her arms to him. She could hear Sirius behind her stifle a snicker, but she managed to maintain a straight face as Moody tried to figure out how to respond to that. Obviously not actually expecting a hug, he finally managed to mumble, "Ah, you don't want to do that, I bite." The other three laughed at him as Cassi gave him a quick hug anyway.
Moody and Remus each went their ways, and Sirius led Cassi into a small library, where a stranger sat at a writing table scribbling furiously at a scrap of parchment. It was a young woman, probably in her late twenties, and she looked completely normal - short, slender, and pretty - except for her hair, which was a dark green. She seemed so intent on her work that she didn't hear Sirius and Cassi come in. Sirius cleared his throat - nothing. So Sirius caught Cassi's eye, winked and said quietly, "Remus."
The effect was instantaneous. The woman's head snapped up and she dropped her quill, pushing back her chair at the same time and making the table rock dangerously. Sirius began to laugh, and she realized he had played some kind of prank on the poor lady (Cassi didn't understand, but smiled anyway). The woman's hair turned bright pink, and Cassi realized with a start that she was a Metamorphmagus.
"Sirius!" the woman said exasperatedly. "You know not to sneak up on me!" Her mouth quirked into a half-smile, trying hard to stay angry at the man chuckling in front of her. He shoved his hands in his pockets casually. "True, true...you're unstable enough even when you're paying attention. Merlin forbid I should ever cause the end of the human race, just because you can't stay on your own two feet..." He ducked to avoid the book she sent flying toward his head. Then the two of them smiled at each other, and Sirius turned to Cassi.
"Cassi, this is Nympha...ah, Tonks," he amended rather nervously after receiving a death glare from the diminutive Metamorphmagus. "Tonks, this is Cassandra Renner. She came with the Weasleys and will be staying here too." Tonks stepped forward to shake Cassi's hand, her hand warm and her hazel eyes sparkling. Sirius then grabbed Cassi's arm and led her away from the library. In a quiet voice he explained, "Tonks is a bit younger than us, but she's always had a thing for Remus. It's not fair to tease, but it's just so easy. She's a lovely woman, just a bit of a klutz...and when I say 'a bit'..."
Throughout the course of the day, she met quite a few more people - Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mundungus Fletcher, among others. Eventually, though, she was tired and ready to paide and continue her adventures tomorrow. She somehow managed to end up in a room with the twins, who were already snoring away when she entered at ten o'clock. She smiled gently at their sleeping forms, happy they were getting an escape from the nightmares of the day, and began to ready herself for sleep. Little did she know that tomorrow, the real adventure would begin.