Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything but Cassidy and what goes with her. Yeah.

A/N: OH, I mean to have Lupin give a lecture, but I can't find my Field Guide to Demons book (haha)! It's pissing me off! SO if anyone has any ideas, feel free to share, because I can't add anything until I find that book, and considering how many books we have in this house, that could take months.

I don't know, I'm trying to figure out my writing style, and making well done fanfiction is a job in itself.

Sorry for taking forever to get this updated… excuses, excuses…

"I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by."

Chapter Four

"We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem."

-Douglas Adams

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Marilyn's letter returned just in time. Cassidy fed her owl, Athena, a piece of bacon before opening the glittery vermillion envelope.

She scoffed, and Fred looked over at her curiously. "Oh, Marilyn's such a snob- my godmother," Cassidy explained at his questioning look. "But hey," she pulled out another piece of parchment. "At least I can go to Hogsmeade!"

He grinned excitedly, and hugged her tight. "Fred… I… can't…. breathe…."

The redheaded boy practically squealed. "Hogsmeade's so amazing; I can't wait to show you all around. Zonko's has this new dungbomb out that…." Fred gesticulated wildly, and Cassidy tuned him out, her eyes glazing over as she nodded along with his almost dangerous yammering.

A few minutes later, they walked out of the Great Hall, and George slid up next to Cassidy, his voice smooth and making the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Nonverbal communication makes up 93 of humans' communication. Most of it is unintentional- no that hand job gesture doesn't count- and almost all humans know how to read body language. Some people were better at it, and George Weasley was one of those people.

And damn, could he read Cassidy. She was like an open book to him, and he was affected by the way she felt. When she laughed at his jokes, his chest swelled with pride. When she got that distressed look in her eye, concern and the urge to destroy that grief filled him. And when George noticed the goosebumps on her arm, and the way she avoided eye contact, he grinned. George was giddy, flirtatious, and a little bit turned on…

"So, you're coming with us, Cass love?" he asked, and she smiled an affirmative. "Perfect. I can't wait to show you Hogsmeade's secrets…" George and Fred were so much alike, and the hormonal teenage girl couldn't help if all of their physical attributes were identical. Cassidy almost tripped over her feet at the thought.

"Dork." Cassidy shook off her previous thoughts, and hit the leering boy, her long fingers forming into a fist and causing George to rub his arm and groan.

"Merlin, woman, where'd you learn to hit like that?"

She smiled sadly. "My grandma. She was a wild one- didn't take shit from anyone… I miss the old bat…"

He looked at her, lost. "What happened?"

"She died." Cassidy answered simply, her face morphing into an indifferent mask and turning to ask Lee about the Shrieking Shack.

George blinked, and his twin paused to let him catch up.

"What was that about?" Fred asked, reading his brother like a book- a picture book.

"A blatant change of subject. I asked her about her grandma- who died- and Cass just shut off." They sighed collectively, and Fred patted his brother on the back.

"Don't worry, mate, she'll open up eventually."

Cassidy, meanwhile, had pushed the small incident to the back of her mind and was currently walking with Angelina on their way too Defense Against the Dark Arts. They sat down in desks, blowing silly kisses at each other as Cassidy sat next to Lee, in front of the twins.

"Oh, Angie!" Cassidy leaned across Lee, stretching her hands towards her friend. "I miss thee already! You're hair is as soft as flobberworms, your mannerisms glorious like our charming Potions Master's! I will not be able to survive without you!" the black-haired teen gripped her chest dramatically.

"Cassidy, my stinky love! Our love shall survive through this terrible ordeal- curse Professor Lupin for separating you from me with these wretched imbeciles!" Angelina pretended to sob into her hands, and then smiled and winked at the Professor. The surrounding students looked on, some amused and all freaked out. Fred half-yelled "take it off!" and Alicia swatted him on the arm and walked to her seat next to Angelina, while attempting to give the other girl a wide berth.

"Oh, hello, Professor! We were just discussing what a kind and generous man you are." Cassidy crooned.

"Yes, I noticed." He said dryly. "Now, I'm sorry to interrupt this little Romeo and Juliet rendition, but I do have a class to teach."

"Oh, it's alright, Professor." Angelina said, grinning.

"We forgive you." Cassidy smiled innocently.

Fred and George blinked simultaneously, and looked at each other. "They've learned how to be cheeky! Our little girls have grown up!" they sobbed and hugged each other tightly. "We're so proud!"

Alicia groaned, letting her head slam against the desk. "Make it stop…"

Lupin shook his head, and cleared his throat. "Today we will be studying…"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Fred, George, Lee, Angelina, Alicia and Cassidy climbed the stairs towards the Gryffindor tower, chatting happily about Hogsmeade.

"What's going on?" Alicia asked, looking up to the Gryffindor entrance. A large crowd of people were pressed around it, the student's chattering, nervous. "Why won't anyone go in?" She muttered grumpily, a tinge of worry in her voice.

Angelina and Cassidy exchanged anxious looks as Percy's voice cut through the din.

"Let me through, please," Percy said and Fred took a moment out of his confusion to imitate his older brother's puffed out chest and hoity-toity look. "What's the hold up here? You can't all have forgotten the password- excuse me, I'm Head Boy." Fred and George snickered, settling at a glare from Alicia.

Then, Percy's voice rang out, much sharper than before, and the five friends tensed. "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

He arrived only a moment later, but Cassidy had taken that time to clasp onto Fred's arm, George's hand on the small of her back comfortingly.

The Fat Lady was gone from her portrait- completely vanished- and the painting had been mutilated. It had been torn apart, strips hanging loosely from the frame and scattered on the floor.

Behind Dumbledore came Snape, McGonagall and Lupin. Dumbledore spoke "We have to find her. Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

Cassidy shuddered as a voice echoed through the stone structure. "You'll be lucky." It said.

It was the Poltergeist, Peeves. Cassidy had been introduced to him her second week when he had dumped earthworms in her hair. He wore a look of absolute ecstasy at the sight of wreckage and worry.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked steadily, and Peeves' smile died a little. No one taunted Dumbledore; Cassidy thought that no one could be that stupid.

Peeves' voice changed to oily. "Ashamed your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something awful," he said happily. "Poor thing." He added, unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" said Dumbledore quietly. Cassidy felt she knew what was happening, but she didn't want to.

"Oh yes, Professorhead." Said Peeves with the air of someone cradling a large bombshell in his arms. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore between his legs, and Cassidy got the impression of one of those evil fellows who tied pretty young girls to railroads- one that had previously studied as a gymnast.

"Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

Cassidy drew in a sharp breath and closed her eyes. "You've got to be fucking kidding me…"

XXXXXX

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told the students as Flitwick and McGonagall closed all the doors to the Great Hall. The students from all of the houses had been sent to the Great Hall, the Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students looking lost. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," Dumbledore added to Percy, who looked like Christmas had come early. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

The white haired man conjured purple sleeping bags and the twins, Lee and Cassidy pulled some over behind a pillar, Fred immediately scaring off a few Hufflepuff second years in the area. Percy was shouting something about no talking, the twins blowing him off with a laugh.

After they had plopped down and gotten comfortable, the boys immediately started talking about the "special visitor."

"Why do you think Black tried to get in?" George asked his friends.

"Innit obvious? He was after Harry." Lee responded.

"Sure, but there are easier ways to get in the tower without slashing apart the Fat lady." Fred said.

George smirked at his twin. "Yeah, like offering her a good shag."

A thought struck Cassie, as she stared blankly ahead, not joining in on the conversation.

…Her father had shagged her mum to make her. He probably shagged Cassidy's mum a lot more than once; Cassidy knew her mum wasn't exactly Ms. Chastity.

Cassidy shuddered. Even if one didn't know her father, it was still gross to think about her parents putting on a little Barry Manilow and making "a night of it."

Yeah, that certainly wasn't helping her stress level. She was already on the brink of hysteria, and thinking about her parents humping like bunnies made Cassidy feel like retching. If she had been able to look at herself during this situation, Cassidy would have realized that the shock caused her to stress over relatively unimportant details.

It was awful, too. Her mum had loved her father, that much had to be true- even if Cassidy's mum was a little over the top, she wouldn't have allowed herself to get pregnant with a man she didn't love.

And Sirius Black betrayed Annabelle Williams' trust. He killed, and left Zira to deal with losing him and taking care of a three year old child. And now, Black was after Harry. Cassidy didn't want to think about what would happen if he found out that his daughter was living in the same tower as Potter. That she was in Hogwarts- what would he do? Would he harm his own child?

If the Fat Lady and Sirius Black had children, what would they look like?

The combined thoughts made Cassidy start hyperventilating.

At the sound of Cassidy's accelerated breathing, her three friends loved over, pausing their "slightly" disgusting train of conversation.

"Wha?" Fred blinked at his pale friend.

"Fat Lady… Black… Making babies…" At this, the three boys started laughing, and Cassidy's large eyes rolled back in her head a bit, her breathing calming slightly.

She was warped.

"They'd be chubby with violent tendencies," George cackled, and made a crack about Harry Potter's cousin, which flew right over Cassidy's head. She thought about what George had said. Did she have violent tendencies? No, not on others. She had considered self-mutilation after she found out about her mother's death, but hadn't been able to proceed with it.

It was just too horrible to think about, and Cassidy scrunched up her eyes, trying to rid her brain of the memories.

The boys started to calm down, and the lights had long been turned off, Lee was starting to drift off. The twins were about to settle down for the night when the saw the tears leaking out from her tightly closed eyelids.

"Hey… hey, Cassie, what's wrong?" Fred asked and looked at her with brilliant eyes.

"Hm…? Oh, nothing's wrong."

"Cass, love, you looked like you saw a ghost back there." George pulled her closer to him and Fred scooted behind her.

Cassidy felt safe between them. It was weird… when one of them was gone; she had noticed an incomplete feeling in the pit of her stomach. Cassidy felt empty without her twins- wait, her twins? What had sparked that?

She shivered, and Fred sighed in her ear. "Tell us what's wrong, Cassie." He ordered her gently.

"Did Black's attack worry you that much? No one got hurt, you know that." George grinned at her, and she was awe struck by the comfort that exuded from his smile.

"… I'm fine…" Cassidy pinched the bridge of her nose.

"No, you're not. You were practically hyperventilating earlier. Cassie, you know we're here for you no matter what, right?" Fred practically growled in her ear, disliking her refusal to trust them.

And she did know. Hell, they had already shown her (and those who messed with her) how much they cared for her; how protective they could be. So had Lee, who was really starting to feel like a brother, even after only a few weeks.

But Fred and George didn't feel like brothers. You didn't get poxies in your stomach when your brothers wrapped their arms around you. You weren't filled with an urge to giggle like a Weird Sisters groupie when they punched out Marcus Flint after he pinched your butt.

Cassidy stared at her hands that were held by George's, leaning back into Fred's touch. "Right… I'm sorry." She stifled a sob.

"It's alright- just… don't push us away though, okay love?" You're our friend, and we're like you. You're a good kid." George matched her gaze, a twinkle in his eye as Fred continued. It was freaky sometimes, how connected they were, and Cassidy couldn't deny the fact that sometimes she was jealous.

"You don't have to talk about it now, but we are expecting a chat, young lady." Cassidy gave a short giggle. "We'll find a nice private place to talk, kay?"

"Alright…"

She yawned heavily, her jaw popping. George tweaked her nose and smirked.

"Time to get some sleep, kid."

Fred and George watched the young woman as she fell asleep- in a completely non-stalker way…

They were worried about their new friend. The twins and Lee had only known Cassidy for a little while, but when they let someone into their circle, they did anything for that person. There were a few steps to take before the four were able to be "BEST FRIENDS 4-EVA!" but Fred and George were already planning on having a little chat with their female friend. They hoped that between the three of them, they would be able to make her open up and help her be comfortable in her new environment.

Fred dreamed that he could make Cassidy laugh all her pain away. George dreamed he was the Greek Titan Atlas. Lee dreamed that a vampire Popsicle was attacking him with truffles…

Little did they know, there was more than the worry of moving to a new school on Cassidy's shoulders…

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The whole school talked only of Sirius Black for quite a few days- Cassidy just had to learn to block it out. Her friends quickly learned that she wouldn't join in on their conversations about the killer, her eyes gaining a far away look.

"Hannah Abbott has been telling everyone that Black can turn into a shrubbery." Fred laughed. Even with the scare, the trio of troublemakers had made the best of it, teasing their wigged classmates.

George snorted. "She's a few vampires short of a blood bath, that one."

"… A vampire with dentures." Fred grinned at his genetic copy. Lee and Cassidy sat back to enjoy the show, Cassidy gesticulating along to imaginary music.

"A vampire that tripped and fell on a pencil."

"Stepped in the sun thinking it was just a very large lamp."

"Ordered garlic bread for his evening meal."

Lee snickered at his two friends' antics. "That last one was definitely the best."

"Nah, the dentures one." Cassidy said, shaking her head.

"Garlic."

"Dentures."

"Garlic!"

"Dentures!"

"GARLIC!"

"DENTURES!"

"Bloody hell, Garlic!"

"Nay, little horsieman!" Cassidy screeched, and pinched Lee's cheeks.

"Argh!" He swatted her small hands away and grabbed a nearby pillow, making contact between the pillow and her face.

"Oh, really? Is that how it is?" Cassie half-ran half-stumbled away from Lee, grabbing her own weapon in pillow form. "Is that how you want to play?"

Lee stuck his tongue out at the tiny girl, and she smacked him with the pillow, running behind George's chair before the boy could react. Fred laughed at his friends, and George proceeded to hit his twin 'just for good measure.'

Fred and George started beating each other, and Lee chased Cassidy around the common room, the lanky boy giving her a scare. "Cassidy, my dear, come back! I've got a present for you!"

Cassidy ran up the stairs to the Girls' Dormitory, putting her hands to her ears and waggling them around. She then proceeded to smack her butt and sing a song that went like 'I'm a little teapot, short and stout, you're a big poo head, so just go… pout!' It was certainly a strange moment, though it was not the most bizarre moment in Hogwarts History. It was definitely not as strange as the time Alicia stuck a banana in her bra and proclaimed that she had a Boob Boner, though more notable than Snape's experiment using his hair as a Petri dish for the growth of deadly bacteria...

Alicia had told Cassidy (with a downcast face) that the boys couldn't go up the to the Girls' Dormitory. She had perked up a bit, though, when she had informed Cassidy that the girls could go up to the Boys' Dormitory. Obviously, the founders had thought that girls were more innocent than their counterparts.

Obviously, they were wrong.

Angelina grabbed Cassidy's arm as the slight girl taunted Lee from half way up the stairs. She pushed Cassidy's bag into her hands, throwing her own over her broad, athletic shoulders. "C'mon, you ponce, we've got Astronomy in ten minutes."

"What? No! I can't go down there- he'll eat me!" Cassidy struggled against the taller girl's grip, trying to run further up towards the Dormitory.

Angelina leered. "Really, he'll eat you? All the more reason to go down there."

"You perve!"

"Ah, you know you were thinking it. Hey, Lee! Do you want to eat Cassie?" Angelina's robust shout drew the attention of not only Lee, but the rest of the Common Room's inhabitants as well.

"Sure, I could be the Big Bad Werewolf and Cassie could be little Red Riding Hood." He smirked at them, showing his left incisor.

Cassidy patted Lee's arm as she passed him, looking like a ghost next to the dark boy. "I'm sorry; I prefer real dogs, not a puppy. Besides," she threw over her shoulder, "Red is really not my color!"

"Aw, does that mean you don't like redheads?" George asked, his eyes tearing up.

Cassidy returned his question with a wink, and the two raving mad girls walked out of the Common Room their laughter bouncing off the high walls as soon as the portrait door closed.

"That was bloody fantastic!" Angelina crowed, ignoring Sir Cadogan's cat calls. As they trotted up to the Astronomy tower, Angelina turned to Cassidy. "So, do you like redheads?"

"Eh, generally not my type, but I can make an exception… Or two." Cassidy grinned. "What about you?"

"Fred and George are definitely easy on the eyes… plus… they're twins! But their brothers Charlie and Bill are godly." Angelina licked her lips, sharing an appreciative noise with her petite friend.

"Well it doesn't really matter, because I'm not really looking for a boytoy- I mean, boyfriend- right now."

"Yeah I know, right? I'd rather play than have a serious relationship. But boys, girls- I like them all."

Cassidy nodded, understanding. "So you fly for both teams? That's hot."

"Oh yeah, you know Madame Rosmerta, right? She's a sexy minx!"

There was nothing more invigorating for the "fairer" sex than gossiping about infatuations, and nothing more horrifying for their male counterparts. Merriam-Webster calls the giggle "laughing with repeated short catches of the breath." It is a most frightening sound. First, the male feels and irritating itch in his ear, and then goose bumps rise on his arms. Realization sets in- that ghastly noise is, in fact, a giggle! Icy fear stabs his heart ("Is she talking of me? Or insert name here, my arch nemesis from primary school! Oh me oh my, what is she saying?") Nausea sets in, and we are left with and unintelligible puddle of heart shaped goo.

XXXXXX

"…Let's just say Quidditch isn't the only think he's manic about."

"Oh, Alicia, you slag!" Katie screeched, and the other girls nodded solemnly, attempting to hide the amused twinkles in their eyes.

Alicia, Angelina, Katie and Cassidy had gathered in the elder girls' room for a little late night chat, nicking butterbeer and Oreos, Muggle cookies perfect for the monthly visit from Eve, from the kitchen. Their chat had so far been filled with talk of boys and makeup (not far away, the Gryffindor boys were facing terrible nightmares involving Medusa and a very large dandelion.)

"You know, Professor Lupin isn't so bad either." Angelina purred. "It's not often we get a good-looking teacher in this school."

"Ew, he's like twenty years older than us! How could you call him cute?" Katie screeched, clutching a pillow.

"Oh, just put him next to Snape, and you'll see he is much better looking than that grease ball." Cassidy grinned at her silly friend, who was currently sticking her tongue out at…everyone, unicorns included. So innocent, so naïve.

"That reminds me- Cassidy, is anything going on between you and the twins?" Alicia asked.

"Uh, no? Why do you ask? Did you hear something?" Cassidy was genuinely confused. She hoped there weren't any blasted rumors. Those damned things were never fun to deal with.

"Why do I ask? How about the way they act around you." Alicia smirked.

Katie raised her eyebrow at her friend. Now who was the naïve one? "Yeah, they're so protective of you- and they get major jealous, too."

"Well, I don't know- nothing's going on between us- but I wouldn't mind if they did like me... They wouldn't, though." Cassidy sighed, practicing the old and noble art of self-deprecation.

"Why not?" Alicia persisted.

"I don't know… They just wouldn't, okay?" Cassidy's voice grew snappy, then relaxed slightly. "Just… please don't tell anyone that I kind of like them, please?"

There was a chorus of agreement, and the conversation moved quickly on, when Angelina jumped up and grabbed a muggle envelope out of her dresser. "You know Sirius Black? Okay, so don't like spread what I'm about to say around… but… he was bloody cute! Well, before he went all psycho killer-y." She amended.

"How do you know that?" Alicia asked, curious. Katie pulled her head up from her pillow, while Cassidy's hands became more active in their twiddling.

"My aunt dated him. She sent me of a picture of her and his friends from when they were in school a thousand years ago." Angelina proceeded to pass a photograph to Alicia, who studying at it long and hard and passed it to Katie. Katie scanned the picture, glancing at the faces quickly, and handed it to Cassidy.

Four boys waved at the camera, a girl holding hands with a dark hair boy laughing happily with them. Cassidy instantly picked out her father, realizing that he was, in fact, her identical, other than eye color and figure. He was tall and dog-like, and the young woman hanging off of his arm was endearing. Cassidy briefly wondered if she should be mad at him for dating women other than her own mother, and tossed that idea out of the window. Who cared? This was before they met, after all.

And it's not like he didn't betray her mother anyway.

On the other side of Black was a blonde boy smiling up at a boy with glasses and insanely messy hair (Cassidy surmised that this was Peter Pettigrew and James Potter.)

"Isn't this Professor Lupin?" Katie asked pointing at the only other boy left in the picture.

"Yeah," Angelina said, and there was a smug tone to her voice.

He was a lanky boy, with light brown hair, amber eyes and skin crisscrossed with scars. His mouth was pulled into a wide smile, and the four girls all privately noted that Remus looked much happier then he did now.

"Poor guy…" Katie said sadly. "He's all alone now; one of his friends is a madman, the rest of them dead. What a fate." There was a moment of somber silence before Alicia turned to Angelina.

"Bugger, you're right! Sirius Black was a babe! Too bad he's evil." She said.

The three girls admired the boy for a few moments, none realizing that Cassidy couldn't look at the picture anymore.

"Too bad…" Katie said.

"Can I have a copy of this?" Cassidy asked suddenly. It was the first thing she had said in a while, and Angelina immediately agreed, not even bothering to ask why. "Sure." The Chaser muttered the spell to copy the photo and Cassidy gave her a bright grin and put it in her trunk.

From then on, the get-together wound down, and Katie eventually left for her room, signaling the other girls to get to bed.

Once again, Cassidy thought of her situation, of her father, and of morality. Killer or not, he was her father, and she wanted to know him- or at the very least speak with him.

She considered herself an existentialist, believing that we were in control of our own destiny, that we do have a choice and fate is not predestined. So she wondered why her father had made the choice to kill his best friends. Did he realize the consequences of his actions?

She mentally shook her head. Supposedly her father had been a smart man- was he a bloody sociopath? And if he was insane, why would her mother marry him?

Cassidy wondered how her mother had reacted when she had found out what Sirius did. Did she cry? Scream? Deny it? How did someone deal with news like that?

Bloody fucking hell. This was slowly driving Cassidy mad with grief. Fucking-a.

There was one thing Cassidy knew. She loved her sister, and she would do anything to protect the only real family she had anymore. Cassidy would work through this problem so Allison could have a stable guardian to care for her as she grew up and her life went to the crapper…

If there was a hell, it would be shaped after adolescence…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one."

-Bill Hicks