I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER - JUST BORROWING
When Cassi woke, the sun was streaming through the windows. She could see it through her closed eyes. She silently assessed her situation. The pain was better. Closing her fist under the blanket, she realized she could move her left hand. She could feel she was in a bed. Her clothing felt different, softer, and there was an antiseptic smell to the place. She could hear hushed voices and footsteps close by. Pretending to be sleeping, Cassi listened hard. The men were asking a woman about her. The woman was talking about her injuries. She caught words like concussion and dislocation. The men's voices sounded familiar, but she didn't know where she had heard them. Cassi didn't dare open her eyes. She kept her body still and motionless.
The voices stopped talking. She heard footsteps going in two directions. One set to her right, two, maybe three to her left, then doors closing. She opened her eyes slightly so they were slits. Listening hard, she heard nothing. Cassi opened her eyes fully, taking in her surroundings. It looked like a hospital of sorts. Dammit, her clothes, wand, and bag were gone. She had to get out of there. Creeping quietly out of bed, she quickly looked around. None of the other beds in the Hospital were occupied. Quickly and quietly, she ran barefooted to the ward door, pulled it open, and gaped. How big was this place?
Moving quickly to the nearest window, Cassi tried to get her bearings and assess the best direction to run. She couldn't see the sun from her vantage point so she needed to figure out which way was North. She heard footsteps coming from behind her. She crept down the hall and into the nearest unlocked door. It was a cupboard of sorts. She closed the door just in time to hear the men enter the hospital where she had just come from. Listening hard, she heard the hospital door close with a soft 'pfump'.
She was off sprinting down one corridor and then another. She sent her magic out, trying to sense anything she could, direction, people, anything. She heard voices ahead of her and slipped behind a tapestry, realizing, too late, she was at the top of a staircase. She tumbled down the cold stone stairs and hit the bottom hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Her newly repaired ribs ached painfully. She crawled out of the staircase, and there they were again, the same shiny black shoes she had vomited on upon arrival.
Grabbing her by her left upper arm and hoisting her, none too gently off the floor was a tall, dark-haired man in black robes, a scowl fixed upon his pale face. Shaking Cassi slightly, he said with a sneer, "Where do you think you're going?"
SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! That was all Cassi could think. She knew this man. This man was a Death Eater. This man's name was Severus Snape, her father. SHIT! Standing there with no idea where she would go if she got free, no wand, and no shoes, there wasn't anything left to lose. Cassi brought her knee up hard into the man's groin. "OUF UUUH!" was all he could say. She wrenched her arm out of Snape's grip and punched him as hard as she could in the face.
Cassi knew he'd probably kill her if he found her, so she ran like her life depended on it. She felt the curse just catch her hair; another blew a hole in the wall right next to her face. She threw herself down the next staircase, nearly falling again, flying through the door at the bottom and right into a tall, oddly dressed wizard with a long silver beard and splendid teal robes.
"Dumbledore!" Cassie gasped out. She knew this man, too, from her mother's memories. Thank Merlin! She was safe.
Snape wasn't far behind her. He snatched her up and pushed her against the wall, slamming her head rather hard. Baring his teeth, he pushed his wand directly into Cassi's face. "If you move one inch," he growled barely above a whisper, "you'll regret it." She took him at his word.
"That will do, Severus," Dumbledore said with a frown. "Let us all go up to my office and discuss things."
Cassi didn't move. She was staring into Snape's fathomless black eyes. She could feel him boring into her mind, but she would not let him in. A hand appeared on Snape's shoulder, and he lowered his wand. Grabbing Cassi hard by the upper arm, he dragged her to the stone gargoyle that was the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
Slowing her thoughts and mastering her emotions, she threw up her walls like her mother taught her. It was like doors closed behind her eyes. Dumbledore gave the gargoyle the password, and it sprang to life. Snape pushed her roughly in front of him. She couldn't blame him for being angry. He was still limping from her knee in his groin. He pushed her into the office ahead of him and threw her into the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk.
Dumbledore moved behind his desk and studied her for a moment behind steepled fingers. "So, Miss Black, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Cassi gaped at him. So did Snape.
"How do you know my name?" Cassi asked him suspiciously. Dumbledore smiled. "I only know your surname, child. I was not given your first name. I gave your mother that port key, so I knew who you must have come from, but not who you are."
Cassi was reeling. "M-" she began, but her voice caught. Dumbledore helped protect her. He knew of her existence. She wondered if Snape did as well. Cassie cleared her throat and began again. "My name is Cassiopeia Aurora Black. I had no idea where the portkey would take me. She told me I should use it if something happened to her." Cassi managed to get out.
"And what happened to your mother?" Dumbledore asked, not unkindly. She felt the nudge then. He was trying to use Legilimancy. SHIT! He was strong. He nearly obliterated her occlumency shield with just one shove. He would get in if he wanted to. That's the message he was sending her. Cassie felt the shift. His demeanor changed slightly.
Snape was watching her carefully. Cassi did not dare look at him. She felt like he would murder her with his eyes. She could feel the anger radiating off the man, who was a good three feet from her in the other chair. Shit. Cassi sighed audibly. She was going to have to tell Dumbledore everything. Since Snape was injured, he would insist he had the right to hear it as well.
"Headmaster, will you tell me where my bag and wand are, please?" Cassi asked politely. Dumbledore's eyebrows went up slightly. "There is something I need from inside my bag. It has a blood lock on it, so if you would like to inspect the contents, it would be easier for me to unlock it." Cassi stated earnestly.
Dumbledore produced her bag but not her wand. She was sure he had it stashed somewhere, though. He did not hand the bag to her. Instead, he handed her a straight pin. Shit. This isn't going how she wanted it to. She edged closer to the desk, resting both forearms on it, and pushed the pin into her finger. As the bead of blood formed, she extended her finger slowly and touched the bag. Sliding back into her chair, she watched as Dumbledore opened her bag.
As Dumbledore pulled out item after item from inside her bag, she launched into her story. "If you gave my mother the port key, you know she was Death Eater. I'm guessing you also knew she was pregnant?" Cassi inquired. Dumbledore nodded his assent and motioned her to continue. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Snape's head turn sharply toward Dumbledore.
"Mum didn't want me given to the Dark Lord, so she ran. She never thought she'd get very far. But he was distracted by his search for the Potters. Mum thought her absence went unnoticed."
On and on her story went, telling the men about her home, her training, and eventually the moment the death eaters breached their boundary. Her breath catching in her chest, she tried to plow on. Did she want Dumbledore to know she had killed? Would she still be safe with him then, or would he send her to Azkaban?
Staring at his desk instead of his face, she began explaining the fight. Unbeknownst to Cassi, tears steadily fell down her cheeks as she described her faithful elf and how hard he fought for her and her mother. Her devastation at his loss. She paused now, wondering if she should go on. Glancing at Dumbledore and seeing the knowing look on his face, she knew it was no good and would have to continue. She was relatively good at occlumency but nowhere near good enough to combat his legilimency.
Cringing in on herself, she told him the rest of the story. Cassi explained how she had blasted a hole in the stomach of one intruder and stabbed the other until he was no more. She regretted her actions, for the most part. The first two that died at her hands, she wished, never happened. But then the last one, the one she stabbed, the one that killed her mother and would have willingly handed her to the Dark Lord, she found she wasn't very sad about him at all.
She waited for his judgment. Waited to find out what would become of her. There was no more hiding. The Dark Lord knew who she was and who she belonged to. He would claim her if he wanted to. Dumbledore was known for his compassion. Maybe he would have some for this unknown girl.
Dumbledore examined the items he pulled out of her bag as she spoke. He looked over her potions and ingredients, handing them to Snape to examine. She found she didn't mind. She was hoping he would be interested in her potions.
She was the same as any child raised not knowing their parent. She wondered what he was like—if he would approve of her— if she was anything like him. She had asked her mother occasionally if it was safe enough to write to her father. She was always told, "No." So, she did the next best thing. She kept a journal. Every letter she had ever wanted to write, every accomplishment and disappointment she had, she had written in that journal so she could share some of herself with her father.
That was the next thing to come out of the bag. Dumbledore was on the point of opening its cover when he saw the look on Cassi's face. He paused. "That's my journal," Cassi said in a whisper. "May I have that, please?" She held her hand out for the book. Dumbledore flipped through it quickly, seemingly satisfied nothing was stuck in its pages. He handed it out to her. Snape grabbed it before Cassi could.
She sighed and turned to look at him for the first time since being thrown in the chair. She was pleased to see a livid bruise on his cheek from where she punched him. She asked abruptly, "Did you know my mother was pregnant, Snape?" He turned to look at her, anger in his face.
"No, of course not!" Snape spat. "You would do well to address me with some respect. You will address me as Professor or Sir." He said, ice in every syllable.
Cassi smirked, "You are not my professor." She wasn't going to make it easy on him. She could see the color rise in his face, blotchily. Why was she taunting the man? Was she suicidal? Yes, that could be it. Her trauma had made her suicidal.
After a moment, Cassi turned back to Dumbledore, "Are you going to call the ministry? Will I be sent to prison?"
Smiling slightly, a twinkle back in his eye, Dumbledore said, "No, I don't think that would be in anyone's best interest at this juncture, do you?"
"No, Sir. Thank you." She said, relief evident in her voice. After a slight pause, Cassi asked, "What will happen to me now? I can't just live in the hospital." Cassi, frowning slightly, looked down at her hands. Cassi had always been a relatively confident girl. Reserved, but not shy. The events of the past few days had done much to rattle her.
"According to your mother's wishes, she wanted you to attend Hogwarts. She thought this castle would be safer than having you roaming around on your own." He pulled a piece of parchment out of the emergency port key she had taken to Hogwarts. "I or your father will need to speak to the Board of Governors on your behalf. It's not often a transfer student comes to Hogwarts."
"Professor Dumbledore, are you sure it's safe to contact my father?" Cassi said, somewhat panicked with an odd sideways look at Snape that he did not miss. Damn man didn't seem to miss much, she thought miserably.
"Oh yes, I think so. Although it will surely be a tumultuous first meeting, I don't think you will be in any real danger there." Dumbledore said kindly.
Shit, Cassie thought to herself. He's probably going to beat the snot out of her. Her mother would have done it if she had dared raise a hand to her. Taking a deep cleansing breath, she turned to look at Snape. At least he wouldn't kill her in Dumbledore's office.
"Professor Severus Tobias Snape? That is your full name, is it not?" She asked him formally. He nodded curtly, still staring daggers at her.
"Well, congratulations, it's a girl. I was born on May 30, 1981, just after 9 pm. I'm currently 15 years old. That," she said, pointing at her diary, "is my diary. It contains every letter I have ever wanted to write to you. Every accomplishment I've ever had. Everything that has happened, both good and bad." Snape gaped at her.
"Also, I'm sorry for hitting you in the face and, well, the other thing." Blushing slightly now that he knew, she knew she was speaking about her father's private parts. She explained, "I wasn't sure where I was or that I was safe. I wasn't sure you were safe. I panicked, and I'm sorry." Hopefully, that explanation would get her out of any extended beatings, but she couldn't be sure. Some of her mother's memories of him were terrifying.
It looked as though Snape had been turned to stone. He was barely breathing, his face masklike. This had to be a shock, she thought. First, the Dark Lord returns; now, he's a father. It had to be like a nightmare.
Dumbledore spoke first. "Severus, we can add onto your quarters and make room for Cassi before finding her other arrangements. The last transfer student we had needed to test into the school and be sorted. It is a process. I'm sure she would be more comfortable sharing quarters with family than in the hospital wing" It was gentle, but it was nevertheless a command. As Dumbledore finished speaking, two of Cassi's ingredient vials shattered. Shit!
Cassi was silent as a shadow. There was no way she was going to move, and she was barely breathing. He needed a moment to calm himself. She knew this from experience. Distraction only made the magical accidents worse. He was a grown wizard, and it had to have been ages since he lost control like that unless he had done it on purpose to make a point. Which, as Cassi thought of it, did not make her feel better.
Dumbledore spoke again. "As it is the last days of school, I think it would be best if Cassi wasn't seen by the rest of the student population. It will make starting next year that much easier." Again, with that sense of authority which left nothing to argue about.
Dumbledore was going to leave her alone with him. Snape was going to kill her. It would make her mother's training sessions look like picnics. Maybe he would even chop her up for potion ingredients. At least it gave her something to think about other than her grief.
She looked at Snape, who seemed to be regaining control of himself. Cassi thought it safe enough to speak again. "I'm sorry this was our first meeting. I had wanted to write to you for years, but Mum said it wasn't safe. This isn't how I thought meeting you would go." Cassi said, mumbling the last few words to her hands.
Snape stood and turned to her, "You will wait outside this office. I need to speak to the headmaster alone." He grabbed her roughly, pulled her out of her chair, and walked her to the door. Opening the door and conjuring a chair, he pointed to it. "You will sit here. You will not speak to anyone. You will not move. Have I made myself clear?" Snape said. Cassi nodded and sat. He bent forward, placing both hands on the chair, his eyes level with hers. He seemed to be radiating power. "A verbal answer if you please." Eyes locked on Snapes, Cassi muttered a very small "Yes, Sir."
Eyes never leaving Cassi's, Snape hissed, "You would do well to obey." Cassi swallowed hard and nodded.
It wasn't that she was never around anyone powerful. It wasn't that Cassi herself hadn't felt her own power. She knew he was angry and had every right to be. The Dark Lord had just returned, and since he was still living, she was sure he had already had an audience with him. That couldn't have been pleasant. A child he didn't know existed showed up, ran amok, kicked him in the groin, and blacked his eye. And now he was stuck with her. Yup, Snape was having a pretty crappy day.
