Chapter 5:

"Avada Kedavra." Cassandra whispered, and it was then with a flash of green light that Remus knew he was too late. She had already given herself to the Dark Lord.

The room was silent. For the first time in the history of the world, a room full of rowdy teenagers was completely quiet.

"Class dismissed." Remus snapped. The students all hurried towards the door- "Not you, Miss Mina."

"How do you know-"

"I'd know a Mina anywhere. Sit." She sat, her professor in the chair across from her. The rest of the students cleared out, and Remus saw Peter hesitate by the door, but continue walking. None of the others stopped.

"Look, professor, I-"

"What on earth do you think you are doing?"

"Excuse me?" Cassandra said defensively. There it was. The darkness was coming through. How had he missed that?

"You cast an unforgivable curse in my classroom. The killing curse, no less."

"So did you-"

"What were you thinking?"

"I was proving that I knew what I was doing!"

"Cassandra, you don't understand!" Remus cried, rising abruptly from his chair. He himself understood. Cassandra's father, Samuel Mina, was a pureblood wizard, in league with the Potters and the Blacks, though had no affiliation with Voldemort. He did, however, have very traditional beliefs and views towards lower blood status'. Anyone in his family who associated themselves with half bloods, blood traitors, and muggle borns fell victim to his brutal punishment. Samuel's son, Cassandra's older brother, was completely cut off from the Mina family for marrying a muggle born. She only sees him every few years, and under complete discretion. The same if they were to prove themselves incompetent in the ways of magic, so Cass strived so hard to prove herself worthy for her father. She had from the moment she started at Hogwarts, but none of her friends truly knew why. Not yet. "Do you know how truly serious what you just did is?"

She looked to the floor, avoiding his gaze.

"That is dark magic, Cassandra." Remus said, voice getting softer. He sat back down and leant towards the girl. "Any amount of dark magic can, and- and will lead a wizard down a path full of terrors, a place I assure, you do not want to go. Do you understand?"

Cassandra nodded, and rose from her seat. "May I be dismissed?" she said quietly. Her professor nodded.

"Wait, Cassandra?" Remus said, and she stopped by the door. "It takes... a lot of power to be able to successfully do these curses, especially at your age. You're a strong witch, Miss Mina. I would like to see what else you can do, if you would let me." She nodded again. "Provided it is good magic." he continued, and Cass gave a small smile. "Perhaps, you could join me in here again, after your last class?"

"Yes. Thank you, Professor," she said, and was gone. Perhaps he wasn't too late.

"What the FUCK was that?" Sirius yelled when he and James were back in the common room. Remus and Peter had gone ahead to arithmacy without Cass, a subject that baffled the two boys more than they would admit. Why they took it was a mystery to them. "She shouldn't even be able to cast that an unforgivable, let alone that one!"

"Pads, I know." James said. He was sitting on a red lounge massaging his temples.

"It's not that I'm surprised she's capable, it's just-"

"She did it."

"Yes!" Sirius threw his arms in the air and collapsed beside James. "Jesus, why'd she do it Prongs?"

"I don't know, mate. I don't know."

As soon as the new professor had dismissed Cass, she had run down, down countless sets of stone staircases, down corridors, down to the wall. She paced its length three times, and on the third on a small wooden door appeared. She swung open the door and was not surprised to see a sullen-looking Lucius Malfoy sitting amongst piles and piles of treasures and useless items, tapping his fingers impatiently on his silver serpent headed cane. She was late, and she was in trouble.

"Cassandra," he hissed. "So thoughtful of you to join me."

"I apologise Lucius," Cass said, bowing her head slightly. "There was... a problem, in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"I know about your little incident, Mina."

"You.. do?"

"Yes, of course I do." He stood, robes billowing furiously behind him. "What an earth were you thinking? You could have exposed yourself, stupid girl!" Crack; he struck her across the cheek.

She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth; composed herself and stood up straight, knowing all to well what would happen if she were to cower or retaliate.

"However," the blonde man continued. "You did not, by some miracle, expose yourself, and I am rather impressed by your ability to cast such a curse. You are powerful, but stupid."

"Gee, thanks," she muttered. "The new professor wants to see me after my last class so I can show him my stupidity."

"And you will go." Lucius said simply. Cass blinked at him. She wasn't expecting that. The man continued, as if reading her mind. "The Dark Lord wants eyes on everyone in the castle, as you know, and as of this moment, you are the only one with us who does."

"So you want me to...?"

"Do the same as you have with the Potter and Black boy, and that werewolf. Get close to him. Make sure he is not a threat."

"Look, i'm pretty sure he's not a threat. Just a substitute pawn."

"Even so, it is better safe than sorry."

"Well I'll be, did Lucius Malfoy just speak common sense?" Cass said.

Lucius' lips curled into his version of a smile. "One day, that mouth of yours is going to get you beaten."

"It already has, sir." she said with a slightly menacing smile.

"Show me your arm," the man said. Cass extended out her left arm and rolled her sleeve up to her elbow. The black snake slithered around on her arm, throughout the skulls mouth. She still couldn't look at it, no matter how hard she tried. The eyes, though black, bottomless pits, were almost as terrifying as the Dark Lords. Instead, she looked at her mentor. Lucius grasped her arm and examined it. The edges of the tattoo were red raw. "Good. It is healing well." he said, then dropped it.

"Care to tell me why I was meeting you here?" Cass asked, rolling down her sleeve.

"It's time to recruit." Malfoy said, swapping his cane to the other hand.

"I take it you have someone in mind?"

"Indeed. It's time to bring in Pettigrew."

"But he's already-"

"A follower, but not a death eater. Initiating him is of the utmost importance. His family has connections in the ministry like no others. You know how badly he wants this-"

"Peter wouldn't dare bring his family into this. He's too much of a coward." Cass said despite herself. Peter was her friend. She knew he couldn't do it.

"But if he becomes a fully fledged death eater, he will have a reason to bring them in."

"I'm not following you."

"Right now, the Dark Lord can't touch the Pettigrews. As soon as he owns the rat, he owns them too." Lucius said. "Do you understand?" The girl nodded once. "As soon as possible." She nodded again and watched her mentor disappear through the vanishing cabinet. Leaving the room of requirement, she headed for the common room, forgetting that her two friends would be there, waiting for her to return.

When the silver haired girl clambered through the portrait hole, the quiet conversation ceased. A few people even packed up their things and left the room while giving her icy glares. She spotted James and Sirius sitting by a window playing wizards chess, Peter was watching them intently, and Remus was leaning on a wall beside them, face buried in a book. They had looked up when she had come into the room, but resumed their game without a word to her.

"Knight to E5," she heard Sirius say as she approached her friends. He let out a yelp of glee as his knight smashed James' castle to pieces, violently.

"Hey guys," she said quietly, sitting down beside them. They ignored her; spare Peter, who quickly glanced at her apologetically. "Guys?" Nothing. "You can't ignore me forever Pads. Prongs, come on." She sighed, looking to Remus, who quickly averted his gaze to his book. She had known this was going to happen, but she hadn't prepared herself for this conversation.

"Why'd you do it Cass?" James said quietly. His friend looked around the room quickly, before returning her gaze to his. "Can I tell you guys something?"

"Anything." James said without hesitation. Sirius remained silent, but looked at her, at least.

She took a deep breath and began.