C. M. Black: Eyes of an Owl

Chapter XXI: Christmas is for family

Christmas Eve was a busy affair. Not only did it house the house's temporary occupants, but Remus and Tonks and even Neville and his Grandmother. They arrived just after breakfast and the kitchen burst into chaos with the sight of the fat turkey Mrs Longbottom brought with her.

'As promised,' she said and sat the magnificent bird on the table. 'It's fortunate this house has two ovens for such parties. I can see they made short work of breakfast!'

Mrs Weasley cast an appraising stare over the littered table. She cleared it with a wave of her wand, too high-spirited to complain.

As the bodies fought to find space along the table, Neville found himself wedged beside Cassy, who held a hand-mirror over her shoulder. She twisted it to find the perfect angle, but he could not work out what it was she was looking at. It was not angled clearly enough for her face and unless she was inspecting her ear, he had no idea what it was she was trying to achieve. After several moments of watching her face flit with thought, he finally asked her.

She did not turn to him and hummed. 'Testing a theory.'

Neville stood immediately. 'I will leave you to that then.'

She laughed softly to herself at his retreating back. With her attention focused back on the mirror, she angled it back to the stacked boxes at the far side of the room. Her wand was held in her hand beneath the table. Her eyes narrowed and the stack collapsed, spilling ancient papers across the floor in a deafening crash.

'Boys!' cried Mrs Weasley to Fred and George, who had been standing closest.

The mirror was stuffed under the table.

'We didn't touch them!' they denied simultaneously.

'Pick it all up now,' commanded their mother.

No one noticed Cassy's smug smirk. Her theory was correct. One did not need a direct line of sight to cast successful spells. As long as she knew the vicinity, the wand movements minimally affected the direction of the cast. It was all intent. Now all she needed to do was work on hiding the mirror more effectively and learning to cast at objects she knew were around her yet could not see. Not only would she need to work on finer control, but her magical and spacial awareness.

I could have fun with this, she thought, let's see how much I can misdirect others.

Pleased with her plan to test out her prowess by pretending not to know anything of the soon to be magical mishaps across the school, she turned her attention to Sirius and Tonks, who had begun to drown out everything else with their loud, tuneless singing. Fred and George did not take long to join in and the day was passed by playing games and eating more sweets and cake than anyone should have. Although Mrs Weasley was unimpressed with the miniature Umbridge model Fred pulled from his pocket at lunch, Cassy had never seen Remus laugh so hard. The figure cursed and screeched like the woman herself until Harry had had enough and buried her deep in the centre of the yule log. More howls of laughter echoed through the house and even Mrs Weasley turned to hide her smile.

Remus laughed so hard he doubled over, nestling his head in Tonks' shoulder. She turned to Cassy, shooting her a quick wink and a thumbs up between her own giggles. Her hair was white and red like the sugar canes that lined the fireplace.

Ron turned to Cassy, eager to see if she had heard his joke. She smiled at him, but it dropped from her lips the moment he turned away again. A heavy weight had set in her heart. She wanted to be happy, she had tried to smile and drown out the ache with cake and laughter, yet its firm hand remained around her heart, squeezing tightly to fuel the flood of guilt that ran through her veins with every tested smile. It was her first Christmas without Alphard.

She pushed it aside again and again with jovial games and mindless chatter. It was not until the sun began to set low in the winter sky that she let herself be pulled from the seasonal cheer. From across the room, she caught Tonks' eye and rose with a wave of her hand, allowing herself to lose the hand of Poker Fred and George had taught them to play. She grimaced slightly at Neville, a purposeful slip that he undoubtedly understood. His face became solemn and he offered her a small smile. With any luck, he would deter anyone from trying to enter her room later.

Silently, her long, woollen coat was retrieved from her room along with her best winter shoes. As she pulled on her knitted hat and gloves, she made sure to grab a scrap of paper from the desk. It was stuffed deep within her pocket by the time she reached the bottom of the stairs. Tonks was waiting with her own winter gear; she nodded in a wordless question that Cassy was ready to leave and she nodded back.

Everyone else was in the drawing room when the two popped out of existence.

A sharp chill assaulted Cassy's face the moment the world stopped turning. A thin layer of snow crunched as the pair shifted and eyed the surrounding thicket of trees. There was no further sound. Tonks seemed content that no one was watching them and she ushered Cassy from the trees and onto the dimly lit street. The houses on the opposite side were all semi-detached, a sort of well-to-do three bedroomed working-class houses with driveways and fair sized gardens. The type with swing sets for young children and sheds filled with rusted tools and packed in bicycles that the youths who used to live there had long since outgrown.

'Where now?' asked Tonks. White steam twisted from her mouth as she spoke, her coat hugged tightly around her chest.

Cassy did not need to look at the paper in her pocket to know the address. 'Ninety-one.'

Slowly, with Tonks peering over her shoulder from time to time, they sauntered up the road. It did not feel as leisurely to Cassy as it looked. One hand was wrapped around her wand in her pocket as Tonks had instructed while the other fingered the edge of the very reason she was there.

Strings of lights hung down the window from within flashing red and green, tinsel was wrapped around the collection of winter ornaments on the windowsill. Light of a television flashed from around the edge of the closed curtains and a bright gold star was visible at the seam where they had not been drawn quite far enough across.

Cassy stared at the house's green door. A gleaming '91' hung above an ornate knocker. Her eyes flicked back to the window as a tall figure passed by the crack. Her breath caught for a moment.

Slowly, she pulled the card from her pocket. The red envelope turned in her hands for a minute, before she stepped up to the door. Laughter sounded faint from within. Suddenly, the entire idea seemed stupid. Here, on Christmas Eve of all times, Cassy was stood outside of her mother's family home, card in hand to wish them a happy holiday. She had not seen them for sixteen-years, unable to remember the slightest detail of them. Yet, she steeled herself and slipped the card through the letter box. Breathing out deeply, she turned to Tonks at the end of the driveway and she smiled softly back at her.

Cassy wanted to see their reactions and yet felt complete relief as she retreated down the driveway.

The card she had left was very simple. It read:

Dear Lowe family,

May Christmas see your family happy and giving and may your New Year bring success.

Best wishes,

Cassy Black

She hated the way it read. Years of trained civility had stunted her ability to simply write a short and heartfelt message. It seemed heartless, if not a bit desperate. Such as message would not even be sent to the most estranged of her contacts, but after scowling at the card for the better part of two hours the night before, she had finally scrawled down something.

While frowning to herself, Cassy went to cross the road when a voice called suddenly. Mid-way across the road, she turned.

People had piled into the streets. An older couple were at the front, a young woman was close behind with a blond boy on her hip and a dark-haired girl by her side. The older woman was short, no taller than Cassy with wide brown-eyes and signs of beauty that had faded but not disappeared with age. The woman behind her resembled her heavily, if an inch taller with blonde hair like the child in her arms. It was the man who really caught Cassy's attention. He was tall, dwarfing the two women, with bronze framed glasses perched on the end of his long nose. He had dark blue eyes – Cassy's eyes.

Before Cassy had a chance to filter through the information, Tonks shoved a hand roughly into her back.

'Speak to them!' she hissed, but Cassy shook her head. She had not anticipated that they would hear the letterbox over their jovial laughter, let alone notice in time to give chase.

The silence stretched on until the elderly woman took a step forward. Had Cassy been weaker, she might have taken a step back. Instead, she took a step forward and met her half-way. The woman waved her forward onto the path before Cassy had a chance to move further despite her intentions to, seemingly eager to have her out the road.

Less than a foot away, Cassy was certain she got her height from her mother's side. The woman's eyes were brown and crinkled as she raked them over Cassy frantically, as though not believing she was really there, or perhaps fearing she would disappear before she had a chance to get a proper look. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears and Cassy could only stare in alarm. She did not cope well with emotional displays from close friends much better than she had at eleven, let alone the sight of her weeping, estranged grandmother.

Tess' breath hitched. 'You look so much like Jane.'

Cassy cleared her throat. Her eyes darted quickly to the side and down before she met Tess' gaze again. 'Most people say I look like my father.' She tried to offer a small smile to convince her she was at ease, but it seemed to work too well because Tess lunged forward and wrapped her arms around her in a fierce embrace.

'I always wondered – I always wondered if those eyes would change as you grew, but no. They're still like Jane's, like Phil's.' Tess' voice was muffled from her head being burrowed so deeply into Cassy's shoulder. 'They're still large and blue, just like they were.'

She took the moment to eye Phil and the blonde woman, Jessica perhaps, before she pulled out of the embrace. The closeness was too much. She did not know what to do. With a shake of her head, Cassy apologised. 'I had not meant for you to hear me. I just wanted to see where you lived and who you were. I was unsure if… if you wanted to see me.'

Tess gripped Cassy's arms tightly and barked, 'You are my granddaughter! Of course you are welcome, you fool! Where is your father?'

'I live with my cousin when not at school. My father is usually away – with work,' lied Cassy.

Tess clicked her tongue and eyed Tonks from head to toe.

'Does he still get himself into trouble?' she asked. 'When I first met him he was always in a spot of bother, particularly because he was dating my rebellious child! When I last saw him, well, when I last saw him he came to our door to collect you, apologising for trying to save your mum and get her the help she needed…'

'It's good to know he's actually settled down and got himself a proper job,' said Phil, who had moved to put a hand on his wife's shoulder. It was impossible not to notice the same warmth in his eyes as his wife had as he gazed upon Cassy. It was a look of familiarity, of pride even, as though her mere presence had lit a fire inside their hearts that Cassy could not begin to comprehend. It was uncomfortable. She did not know them, but they certainly seemed to think they knew her. It was a different kind of expectation to anything else she had known, it was not critical or evaluating, but content to simply take in everything she did as much as they could and she that made her more wary than anything else. For all they knew she could be anyone, the bringer of a cruel prank on their family with a false card of a child they would never see, or their granddaughter who was merely interested in their money and in trouble with the law. Yet, they did not seem to realise that. They seemed genuinely happy that she was just there.

Her eyes shifted to the people behind her grandparents. She looked over Jessica's face – her aunt's face – then to the two children. The girl seemed curious of her while the boy was busy tying the toggles on Jessica's jumper together clumsily.

'I should introduce you,' said Phil with a smile when he followed Cassy's gaze behind him.

Before he could, Cassy shook her head. 'I should not even be here. It was selfish of me to come, I probably cannot see you again.' She wanted to, of course she did, the events of the last few months made her desperately keen to at least get to know her mother's family even a little bit more, where the desire had never sparked before.

Tess and Phil frowned.

'I don't understand. What do you mean?'

Cassy almost jumped at her voice. For a split second, it sounded like the same one that echoed through her mind with gentle hums and muttered words as she had read the newspaper almost a decade ago. Instead, she looked towards her aunt, who was scowling deeper than anyone else. Although Cassy had not considered her to look much like the mother she remembered, the intense stare had certainly brought through the family resemblance.

Jessica did not seem to appreciate the hesitation. 'What do you mean you won't be back? What was the point in this?'

'Jessie,' began Tess.

'No!' protested Jessica loudly. 'I rang Sirius every week for months to see how you were. Then one day he didn't answer me. I went to his flat to find a notice that it was for sale pinned to the front of it and no sign of him! You were both just gone and now you're suddenly here and you can't stay?'

Tonks had moved forward as Jessica's voice rose with every word. Her wand hung loosely at her side and her eyes darted to each window as the curtains began to flutter with the curious gazes of the neighbours.

'I'm sorry,' said Cassy frankly. 'Really, I am, but my father does not even know I am here. There is a lot that I cannot explain, but I am different and things the people like me are doing right now means it is not safe for me to contact you too much. They will not… appreciate the differences between us.'

Phil squared his shoulders. 'There's still a war on then.'

Cassy did not let her surprise show. She supposed she should have suspected they might have known something, but she had not anticipated her father explaining to her mother's parents that there was a madman out to kill and enslave all Muggles. She did not imagine it had inspired much trust, not matter how much they seemed to like him.

Stiffly, Cassy nodded her head just a fraction.

'And that is why your cousin keeps darting her eyes?' asked Tess, her voice dropped to just above a whisper.

Again, Cassy found herself surprised. Her grandmother was observant.

Tess then snorted loudly. 'I don't give a damn if you're different. You would have been raised well here whether we're Puggles or not!'

Cassy ducked her head to hide her laugh. 'Muggles.'

Tess waved her hand flippantly.

'Olivia,' said Jessica suddenly. She nodded to the girl with dark-brown hair. 'My eldest is called Olivia and my son is Alex.'

'I'm seven. Alex is three,' said Olivia tartly.

Cassy smiled at her. 'It's nice to meet you.'

Olivia did not say anything in return and continued to inspect her critically, as though evaluating her entire worth with her large brown-eyes.

For a moment, Cassy wondered where their father was, but she pushed it aside as Olivia opened her mouth once more, finally having deemed Cassy worthy of a conversation.

'Do you remember Auntie Jane? How old are you? What does Uncle Sirius do for a job?' she fired out all at once and Cassy almost howled with laughter at 'Uncle Sirius'. None of the Lowe's seemed the least bit bothered by the title.

'I am sixteen,' answered Cassy.

'Almost an adult,' breathed Tess.

'One more year,' agreed Cassy.

When Phil frowned, Cassy clarified that 'her kind' came of age a year earlier. He told her she was lucky and Olivia nodded along, although she was clearly uncertain of what made Cassy so special. She muttered that she could not wait to attend university and Jessica smiled. Olivia was always eager to learn. She had already been moved up a year in school.

An eagerness to get to know them washed over Cassy forcefully, but she knew she could not stay. They had been in the street for some time now and the neighbour kept poking his head between the curtains to check if they were still there, any longer and she feared he would come and enquire. Tonks had begun to grow uneasy too and soon Cassy forced herself to say good-bye to her relatives. Tess squashed her in a hug more bone-shattering that any Mrs Weasley had ever given her and Phil grimaced in sympathy before giving his own. Jessica even gave Alex to her mother to hold so she could hug her too.

It was only then that Phil took Cassy's arms in his hands and stared down at her seriously.

'Take care of yourself,' he said. She could see the clear implications in his words. He wanted her to stay out of the war that had cost him his daughter, no matter how indirectly, but Cassy could not promise that. Instead, she smiled.

'I will try,' she said and that seemed to placate him.

'Try and keep in touch!' demanded Tess. 'And come back after school. I want to show you off to the neighbours.'

Cassy laughed and began to step back towards Tonks. The Lowe's each smiled and even Alex offered her a clumsy wave.

When Cassy returned to Grimmauld Place, she sneaked to her room silently. Laughter and songs from the radio still echoed through the house, although it was clear the night was winding to an end. She could not shake the thought of her relatives from her mind and briefly she considered if she would mention her trip to Sirius the next day, but dismissed it quickly. He was cheerful for once. She did not want to risk weighing down his spirits by once again dragging old memories into his mind.

There was still lingering guilt in her heart that she had chosen the beginning of a war to contact them. It was not as though she reasonably could have done so before, yet she felt bad for it all the same. They could be in danger if anyone were to know she contacted them. With any luck, she hoped, no one would even know of them, their names or where to find them. It seemed cruel now though to never send a letter when they had been so overjoyed to see her. No harm had been done yet, she reminded herself, and besides, it was almost uplifting to know she was more like her mother than just her eyes. Where everyone saw Sirius, they saw Jane and it was oddly pleasant although she could not quite place why.

Cassy stayed up late that night, highlighting and scribbling over old newspaper articles Plum had collected for her. Colourful phrases littered the pages, the margins filled with ideas and comments. Question marks and squiggles that could only mean something to her were on every page and over every article. Stacks of them sat beside her bed and her elf sat on the floor beside them, patching a hole in the dress she had made herself some time ago. It was time-consuming work, but nothing Cassy had not intended to do for some time now. She had a plan and it kept her awake late into the night. She was not even close to completion when she finally slipped into sleep.

When she awoke the next morning, she found herself in a surprisingly good mood despite the lack of sleep. Fred had hammered on her door, demanding she join them in the living room already. She heard him move to Harry and Ron's to demand the same.

Opening presents in front of the entire Weasley family were somewhat of a strange, if slightly awkward, affair. Mrs Weasley treated Cassy, Harry, and Hermione much like she did her own children and as such wished to see each and every gift they received, forcing them to be opened one person at a time. Sirius had brought Cassy a necklace and earring set, which Mrs Weasley stared at astounded. Sirius pouted back at her and insisted he did have good tastes and Cassy had to agree. Everything he had brought her so far had been delightful, surprisingly so for a man who had spent twelve-years away from society. Harry had given her a pretty watch; Hermione had given her a knitted blanket comprised of many colourful squares which she had made by hand – although Cassy was suspicious that it was to prove that she could knit more than 'woolly bladders'; Neville gifted her a book on complex but useless Potions that thrilled her; a pretty hair comb was from Ginny and Luna had brought her a black jumper with splattered, mottled stars across it that was actually quite tasteful.

Cassy ran her hands over the string of tiny lanterns Tonks had given her curiously and Hermione was keen to explain their appeal in the Muggle world was decoration. While she did, Harry and Ron exchanged wary looks at their speaking homework planners Hermione had given them. Ginny looked thankful for her own knitted blanket, but everyone's face crumpled when Hermione pulled a third out from beneath the sofa.

'It's for Kreacher,' she explained.

Ron could not look more appalled.

'Oh, Sirius!' called Mrs Weasley as she swept away the remains of the wrapping paper. 'I have something for you.' She fumbled at the base of the tree for a moment, before pulling out a flimsy parcel. 'It's not much, just a little thank-you for letting us stay with you. It's meant a lot.'

Sirius turned from his conversation with Tonks to face Mrs Weasley with wide eyes. His eyes remained wide when unwrapping the paper and if possible they widened even further when he unfurled the dark blue jumper.

'I know it's not much,' said Mrs Weasley quickly, 'but I thought seeing as everyone else had one and you had been so good to us in such a difficult time – '

'Molly, it's great. Thank-you,' said Sirius warmly. A wide grin broke out onto his face.

'Put it on!' urged George.

'A Weasley jumper for all!' cheered Fred.

The jumper was pulled over his head and revealed a large, silver 'S' on the front. Each of the teens wore one.

It was not long before the blanket Hermione had so carefully made Kreacher was passed from person to person with no desire to approach the elf. Eventually, it was shoved into Cassy's arms.

'He's your family house-elf, you take it,' said Ginny.

Cassy stared down at the blanket in disdain.

'Oh, for Heaven's sake! No one has to give it to him. I'll take it before lunch,' sighed Hermione.

'I haven't actually seen Kreacher all morning,' said Sirius thoughtfully.

Harry frowned. 'You did tell him to get out last night.'

Cassy's head jerked up at the news.

'Yes, but I meant the room,' said Sirius simply.

'They can interpret your commands as they please though,' added Cassy quickly. 'Plum often does. If you told him to get out, he might have left the house.'

Sirius frowned for a second before he waved his hand flippantly. 'Do not worry about that now. The turkey will be done in a minute, so wash up and head downstairs before Molly shouts at us all for letting it get cold.'

Cassy did not let the thought go during Christmas lunch and it was only when they were excused from the meal did she turn to Harry with a curious frown.

'Why was Kreacher sent away?' she asked.

Harry shrugged. 'He was saying horrible things about Mr Weasley. Sirius had enough and told him to leave.'

'He could have gone anywhere then,' commented Cassy.

They passed Bill and Mrs Weasley, who had since gotten over her sadness at Percy returning his gift and was now trying to interrogate her oldest son about his suspected girlfriend. Idly, Cassy remembered someone mentioning he now worked with Fleur Delacour at the bank. If it was her, that would be a most interesting sight.

'He knows a lot,' said Cassy.

'He can't tell anyone anything, can he?' Although his voice sounded nonchalant, Harry's face tensed in concern.

Cassy, Harry, and Hermione spent much of Christmas afternoon in Cassy's bedroom. Sirius and Remus shared story by the living room fire over glasses of whisky and the Weasley's took a long trip to the hospital to see Mr Weasley and bring him his own collection of presents and a Christmas pudding to share. Cassy and Hermione flicked through her new Potions book, chuckling at the names and their uses, some so absurd that they wondered who had possibly needed that to invent it in the first place. Harry had fell silent some time ago. His new Defence book from Sirius and Remus was still open in his lap, but his eyes were far away. A faint scowl marred his face as he stared at her fireplace distantly. The wooden soldier marched up and down the length of it, his little gun resting on his shoulder as he turned and span to begin his long march again.

So, I finally involved the Lowe family! I tried to make sure they all had very normal names, as Harry Potter is filled with weird and wonderful ones. I wanted them to contrast the Dursleys. Despite what happened to Jane because of magic, the Lowes are understanding and enthusiastic. They do not fear Cassy as the Durselys fear Harry. They are just happy she is there and nothing more. Jessica is four years younger than Jane, who is two years older than Sirius. So she is about thirty-three, going on thirty-four at this point, while Jane would have been about thirty-eight. Tess and Phil are in their sixties and the children's ages are listed in the chapter.

I intend to explain more about everything before the end of the series! I promise that much. Tess and Jessica are a bit brash, I suppose. That's because a) They are stubborn, and b) they are unsure of how to react to Cassy being there. It's an awkward encounter and I purposefully tried to make it imperfect because I can't imagine everyone being totally at ease with one another and having a big reunion. Perhaps I am a pessimist, but I don't think real-life works like that either. You'll get to see them a little more in the future, but they won't be central parts to the plot anytime soon. A lot of their characterisation will make sense when the story of Cassy's mum is expanded more.

One of my shorter chapters of the year so far. I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks!