I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER – JUST BORROWING

The next morning, Cassi was up before the sun. She had set her alarm for 5am. It was time to start training again. Going for a run, even if it was hideously early, seemed like a good start. Remembering the stairs creek, she tried walking on the edge by the wall. The second to last stair gave a small groan, but all in all not to bad. She was just about to turn the door handle when Meg popped into view.

"Where is Miss going so early?" Meg asked blocking the door slightly.

"Just for a run. I'll be back shortly" She told Meg with a small smile. But the elf did not move.

"Master says yous is not to leave the house unless he is with yous." Meg said nervously.

"Well, you can tell master when he wakes up, that I'm not a child and I went for a run. Please move, Meg." Cassi said firmly. The elf looked terrified, but moved as requested.

"I is sorry Miss. I has to tell Master. I hope he doesn't beat yous" Meg said looking utterly devastated. Cassi nodded then opened the door and ran out into the misty morning.

Cassi was huffing and puffing at just passed a mile. He mother would have murdered her. She would have had her running until her blisters had blisters. "Dammit!" she cursed as she got a stitch in her side. Slowing to a walk, she tried to take deep breaths, holding her arms above her head as she did. The pain slowly subsided, and she restarted her run, just a little slower this time. Cassi estimated she had gone about 3 miles by the time she made it home. She'd have to get a map to make sure. 'Pathetic' she thought to herself as she walked through the front door. She'd have to do better next time.

Her father was waiting for her at the dining table. "Did Meg tell you you weren't allowed to leave the house without permission? He said coldly. Cassi didn't answer him immediately. She went to the tap, turned it on and stuck her face under it gulping cool water. Drying her mouth and turning off the water Cassi turned to look at her father, but he was right behind her.

Stepping back slightly, she wiped her mouth one last time. "Yes, she told me that. But I did- OW!" Cassi winced. He had her upper arm in a vice like grip. "I just went for a run and I didn't want to wake you!" Cassi said desperately. Snape was dragging her through the kitchen and into the sitting room. He spun her around to face the wall.

"Kneel" Snape said. The menace in his voice was alarming. Cassi dropped to her knees, sitting back on her feet, hands on her hips. "What ever Meg says, comes directly from me. Would you have left this morning if I was in front of the door?" he asked

"No Sir" Cassi said. There was no other answer to give. He'd take her head off.

"Then prey tell, why did you disregard it when my servant told you the same thing?" he asked. His tone was alarming.

"I thought you would approve if you knew why I was leaving" Cassi said. A note of desperation in her voice. "I feel weaker now than when I first came. I haven't trained. I'm no good to you weak." She hated having her back to him. She tried to breath and center herself. She sent her magic out to get her bearings. She could feel his power behind her, pulsating.

"I would have approved it if you had asked me first. You did not. Now there are consequences." He said smoothly. She could hear him pacing behind her. "You want to train, do you? Feeling weak, you say? Let me help you with that." The words sounded good, promising, but the voice that spoke the words promised something else. SHIT!

"Hold out your arms, palms up." Snape said. "Get up, up on your knees, proud and strong" he said sarcasm dripping from his voice.

She saw out of the corner of her eyes he removed two books from the shelves. He walked up behind her and placed one large book on top of each hand.

"You will stay in this position for fifteen minutes. You will not move. You will not speak. If you drop your arms, or if the books fall, you will start over. We will repeat this process as many times as necessary to complete your punishment. Do I make myself clear?" His voice a deadly whisper.

"Yes Sir." Her voice was small. She didn't like hearing her voice like that.

Snape flipped over an hour glass on the table and sat comfortably in the chair behind her.

Seconds felt like minutes. Minutes felt like hours. Her arms were all fire and pain. She was trembling and sweat was pouring down her face and back. Her eyes were closed and she was using every concentration technique she could manage. She splayed her fingers to stabilize the books as much as possible. She tried to send her magic out but there was a block of some kind. It had to be that wretched hour glass that was stubbornly NOT MOVING! SHIT!

Her breath was ragged. Her face was beet red and she was drenched in sweat and tears when she was finally allowed to move. When Snape told her she could drop the books she found she was unable to move her arms. Her muscles had seized and she was stuck. She sat back on her heels, her body screaming in protest, and tipped her torso forward so the books would fall. The change in weight caused Cassi to cry out in pain. She toppled to the floor gasping, tears running down her cheeks. The cold floor felt good against her burning body.

"The next time you're given instruction, heed. Get off the floor and get cleaned up. I expect you at the table in fifteen minutes." Snape said, his voice like ice.

Cassi scrambled up, off the floor. Trying hard not to use her arms for anything. She would try to use the hot water in the shower to release some of the tension. Getting undressed was ridiculous. Her arms were trembling so much she couldn't use them. Frustrated she just kicked off her shoes and climbed in the shower clothed. She stripped off as the warm water loosened her shoulders.

Meg came in to Cassi's room as she was trying to get dressed. Cassi turned to the elf, "I'm sorry Meg. I hope very much my father wasn't cross with you this morning. I should have listened. Will you forgive me?" Cassi asked wincing as she pulled her arm through her sleeve.

"Oh, my poor miss, so much trouble yous is in. Meg is not being mad at yous. Meg came to see if shes could help poor miss." Meg said sadly.

"Thank you, Meg. But I'm alright. I've had worse." Cassi said as she slipped her feet into her boots and tried to lace them.

Cassi walked down to breakfast and silently took her place on her father's right. Her hand shook from the effort of extension as she lifted her tea to her lips. Breakfast was plain but hearty. Porridge and fruit with cinnamon and cream.

"What time are we leaving this morning?" Cassi asked quietly.

"You need to be ready by nine. Change your robes, something more formal. Nothing too bright." Snape said shortly.

"Yes Sir." She said quietly.

Snape slammed his hand down on the table. Cassi turned calmly to look at him, not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction. "I know you think me cruel. I know I have a temper. I am not an easy man to know. You must obey. Our very survival depends on it. To the letter, with out fail. I need to be able to trust it will be done. I cannot have a variable in my plans that cannot be controlled." Snape said severely. He did not look at her as he spoke. He stared straight ahead. She thought she knew why.

"Yes Sir" Cassi said simply.

"Go upstairs, change. Do something with your hair." Snape said with a huff waving his hand dismissively.

Cassi stood, pushing her chair in without a word. When she was out of site of the dining table she began stretching her arms. She had pain potions if she needed them. Sighing she thought over her father's words. 'I can't have a variable that cannot be controlled.' Cassi sighed again, and muttered to herself, "I'm just a variable." She opened her wardrobe and froze. She started rifling through the hung garments realizing she had many more sets of robes than she came with.

"Meg" Cassi called out. The little elf popped into view.

"Yes miss. Yous called?" the elf said bowing.

"Meg do you know where all of these robes came from?" Cassi asked curiously.

The little elf looked sheepish. "Master tells me to puts those there while miss is running. Are theys not to misses liking" Meg said timidly.

"No, on the contrary. They're beautiful. I was just wondering where they had come from. Thank you Meg" Cassi said smiling down at the elf.

With a heavy sigh she began looking through her wardrobe. There were dark green, navy with pretty embroidery on the lapel, black, light blue, pink and ivory. All of them new. She looked toward the bottom of the closet, there were new boots too. When had he done this? Was this part of his "Mission"?

At five minutes to nine Cassi came downstairs in Navy blue robes, with the black boots she found in the bottom of the closet. Her hair was up, loosely held with the silver and pearl combs her mother had given her. The white pearls contrasted sharply against her black hair. It kept attention on her face. She had given in and taken a pain potion. She didn't want what ever they were doing today to be spoiled by her inability to move her arms.

She was waiting at coat closet door when her father came down. He, as usual, was dressed in black, but not potions master's robes. They were more modern, with silver buttons. It was cut to fit rather than flow so it showed off his broad shoulders and rather fit physique. He pulled their cloaks out of the closet. Another new one for Cassi, navy blue to match her robes and a black one with silver clasps for him.

"Where are we headed?" Cassi asked casually.

"Diagon alley. We have several stops to make today. You will stay with me. Failure to do so will make this morning look like a trip to the play park." Snape said coldly. He turned without waiting for a reply walked through the kitchen and out the back door. He stood on a stone patio back to the door waiting for her. Cassi closed the door behind her and took her father's arm.

They apparated into a cluttered alley way. He took off walking without a word. Cassi following mutely behind him. They walked into a shadowy pub called The Leaky Cauldron. It was clean inside, and smelled of good food. There were all manner of witches and wizards here. Some discussing news and chatting happily, other's skulking in the shadows watching.

"Good Day Professor Snape" an older man said from behind the bar. He appeared to be toothless, but had a round happy face and rosy cheeks. He bobbed his head to Cassi and said "Morning miss".

"Tom" Snape said with a nod and kept walking.

Cassi smiled at the man, "Morning Sir", she said brightly.

She followed closely behind her father into a dank sort of patio with rubbish barrels and old crates. There didn't seem to be a door anywhere. Her father took out his wand and tapped a brick on the wall. The bricks began melting away forming a doorway into an alley packed with wizard shops and witches and wizards shopping, chatting, and enjoying their morning. She kept an eye on her father while trying to take in the sights and sounds.

They headed into an apothecary first. Cassi looked around interestedly. She took stock of some of their rare ingredients. Her father eyed her carefully, then turned and spoke to the shop keeper. Not wanting to anger her father by making him wait for her, she walked over to him while he was finishing his business with the shop keeper.

Next was a book shop called Flourish & Blotts. Her father seized her arm before they entered.

"Stay with me in here. No wandering off." He said sharply pinching her arm just a little too tight.

Wincing slightly Cassi said, "Yes Sir," and followed him inside.

The walls were covered floor to ceiling with books. Stacks and displays were on the floors and tables. There was barely room to move in the crowded shop. It was all Cassi could do to squeeze past some of the displays without knocking things over. Her father was roaming through picking up random books. At least she thought they were random. She caught the sight of one of the covers as he put it in the stack he was carrying. The title was "The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5". Then it dawned on her, he was getting her school books. Then she wondered why the books she had weren't good enough. They were good enough to study from when she was getting ready for her test. And good enough to do her first round of essays. Frowning at his back, she kept browsing the titles.

As she walked through the shop, she saw several different books she would love to own. There was an advanced potion making book. Another for peculiar charms. She had never been in a book shop before so this was wonderful. Cassi looked around sharply. She felt rather than saw something. Her skin was tingling. She looked sharply around and saw no one. She often got the feeling when she was in wizarding spaces. Maybe there were too many people? Maybe the space was too enclosed? She walked closer to her father. The feeling left.

On and on they went from shop to shop. Madame Malkin's was probably her least favorite. She hated standing there being fussed over and fitted. With her father glowering in the corner at her all she could do was be silent and compliant. I wonder why he was being so hard all of a sudden. He was not this way when they were staying at the school. Yes, he was strict. Yes, he expected her to do what she was told. But this was a whole new level of harsh that Cassi, who was raised in an already harsh environment, was unused to. Was he nervous? Was this part of a plan? Why dress her up when there was no one here for them to meet? Was he ashamed of her? A thousand thoughts races through her head. She barely heard Madame Malkin say she was done.

As they left what Cassi thought was their last shop, her father turned to her and asked, "Did you mother buy you that wand or was it given to you?"

"It was given to me Sir. I'm not sure where she got it from. I never asked." Cassi said, now deep in thought about that day.

MACUSA generally did not allow wizarding children to be taught at home. But since my mother had put so many enchantments around her property and we were indeed so isolated from the rest of the town, they believed it would be safe enough. Her mother being her teacher and her home being her school, Cassi never had to worry about doing magic outside of school. Her mother began honing her wandless magic when she had her first showing. They insisted Cassi not be officially presented with a wand until she was of school age, at eleven. To be allowed her plan, her mother had acquiesced. However, she did use her mother's wand. That was never part of the bargain. They day she turned eleven, she was presented with a box. Her mother told her the wand had a dragon heartstring core, but she didn't know what the wood was made from. She stood there smiling fondly at the memory of her eleven year old self casting and trying out the spells she had already learned with her new wand. She was brought sharply out of her reverie by a hard cuff to the back of the head.

"Pay attention!" Snape spat. Not knowing what she had missed she followed him into a dimly lit, shop with small boxes lining every wall and stacked on every surface. The shop felt weird. It was almost as if the air itself was alive with magic, swirling around them, filling their lungs, engaging their senses. Cassi sent her magic out almost protectively trying to sense the things that might be here.

A man came out from a back room, a slight smile on his pale face. He had slivery white hair and light shining eyes. He looked directly as Cassi, not severely like her father, but almost appraisingly. He glanced at the air around her, almost as if he could see her magic. Cassi wasn't sure she liked this man very much. As her magic touched the air around him she could sense his magic. It was like a silent dance the two were performing privately. His magic felt…heavy, not with weight, but experience, knowledge.

"Good afternoon. How may I help?" Olivander asked. But he asked Cassi, not her father, whom he had yet to acknowledge.

"We would like your assistance in identifying a wand, and possibly purchasing another that would suit her better," Snape said curtly. It appeared he did not enjoy being ignored.

Cassi wordlessly pulled her wand from her wrist holster, and handed it to Olivander. He took the wand from her with a most gentle touch. Spinning it between his thin fingers, he studied it with his bright pale eyes mere inches from the wood. He scrutinized the wand from tip to handle. When Olivander finally spoke, it was as if he was addressing the wand and not the people in the room. "This wand did not choose you Miss Black, but allows you to use it well." He glanced in Cassi's direction. Cassi looked alarmed that he knew who she was. In answer he held up her wand.

"My mother gave me that wand when I turned eleven. It's the only one I've ever owned." She said simply. Did the wand tell him who she was? Do they speak? Cassi's mind raced with questions.

"Ah yes" Olivander said again, to no one in particular. "We should have you chosen then. No wand performs quite as well as one that chooses it's wizard. And no wand is ever the same. The wand you use, belonged to Regulus Black. You are his?" He paused; eyebrows arched. Cassi really wasn't sure if she liked this man or not.

"I'm his niece. My mother was Aurora Black" Cassi said, a little edge in her voice now. She watched as Olivander walked away. She frowned wondering if she should follow him. She made to take a step when a tape measure came out of nowhere and began measuring every possible thing on her body it could measure. Her arms, finger length, head circumference, wrists, space between her eyes were just the beginning. It kept measuring things until Olivander came back into sight carrying several boxes in his hands. "That will do!" he said and the tape measure that was currently measuring her right ankle vanished.

"Well let us begin." He held out and open box to her, urging her to take the wand within. She did. It felt foreign to her. Frowning, she waved it. Nothing happened. She popped the wand back into the box. He was watching her. Olivander offered her another one.

Frowning, Cassi held her hand over the box. "It doesn't like me" she said softly. "It doesn't feel friendly". Cassi withdrew her hand. Snape and Olivander both frowned at her pronouncement. Her father was standing well back, watching. Not saying anything. She had quite forgotten he was here. Cassi took a slow deep breath, breathing in the smell of the wood and the dust and let it out just as slowly, but sending her magic out with it. She closed her eyes, repeating the process. With her eyes closed she turned her head toward a dark corner of the shop. She pointed. "It's calling me from over there. May I?"

Olivander was eyeing her carefully. He nodded. Cassi walked over to the corner slowly, feeling her way by magic, not sight. Running her hands down the wall, not quite touching the boxes, she felt for their contents. Her breath hitched a little. "I think this one likes me" she said in a whisper. "Or, is it two?" Cassi waited for Olivander to come bring the box down. He was looking at her strangely. The box had a very thick layer of dust on it.

Olivander brought the box back to his counter staring at it. Then he looked sharpy at Cassi. The intensity of his gaze made it feel like he was trying to see through her. It was a little unnerving. He opened the box, holding it out to her motioned for Cassi to take it. She didn't have to pick it up, the moment her hand was close enough the wand leapt from the box, into her hand. An eerie song filled the shop, ghostly and echoing as fire erupted out of the wand. A warm feeling spread up Cassi's arm as a soft glow emitted from her wand hand.

"Very unusual," Olivander said again speaking to no one in particular. "Red Oak and a dual core. Typically, the second core is of a lesser magic than the first. This core is dragon heart string and phoenix feather. An unusual combination, due to the unusual union. One of my very first creations upon coming back from the Colonies. There was a very old dragon that lived in this mountain, I was told it had died. I wend to this place in the mountains of Virginia so I might collect some remains from it. There I found a beautiful Red Oak tree, and a phoenix in the tree guarding the body of this dragon. I was wary. But those of us who have studied wand lore know that these things are rarely a coincidence. The tree was indeed of wand quality. I was able to give the little bowtruckles something to pacify them so that I might take wood from this tree. I fashioned this wand when I returned. It has been here ever since." Olivander finished. It looked as though he was telling the story to the wand. He was an odd man, Olivander.

Cassi glanced at her father who was giving her an appraising look. He approached the counter looking down at his daughter. "We will take this wand. But I would encourage you, Olivander, not to share this story with anyone else." He added with a small amount of menace in his voice. He passed the gold over for the wand.

Handing Cassi her bag and her old wand Olivander said "I expect we'll be seeing great things from you Miss Black." Cassi wasn't sure whether to thank him or run away from the shop. She felt odd, on edge, her fingertips tingling.

She followed her father wordlessly out of the shop. She was so distracted she kept walking when her father stopped to talk to someone. A black cane appeared across her chest, stopping her at once. Glancing up she saw the cane had a serpent handle and holding the cane, none other than Lucius Malfoy. "Going somewhere?" He asked imperiously, looking down at her with those cold grey eyes.

Gathering herself immediately, she curtseyed, apologizing for her stupidity. Her voice sounded odd in her own ears, very unlike her own. She was still feeling unsettled.

"We are gathering her things for the coming year." Her father said giving her the kind of look that scorches. "I'm glad to have caught you, Lucius. I will need to arrive at Hogwarts two day before the start of term. I was hoping you might be willing to take Cassiopeia and see she gets on the train safely. I can assure you she will be of no trouble." Her father said smoothly.

Cassi did her best to school her expression into one of pleasant acceptance instead of one that screamed 'YOU'RE A MORON FATHER'. The smile she sent to her father didn't quite reach her eyes. Mr. Malfoy missed it. Draco circled around his father's back to stand next to her.

"She passed, did she? Please tell me she's in an acceptable house." Mr. Malfoy drawled.

"Of course, as if she'd be anywhere other than Slytherin House. She did very well on her exams. Displaying magical levels well into 6th year already." Her father said smugly.

"It might be nice for me to get to know my cousin, father. We could help each other study." Draco added hopefully.

"Yes, it might be nice to know our family a bit better." Lucius said. His tone not at all like he meant it. "Of course, old friend. I'll let Narcissa know. She'll have the house elves prepare the guest quarters for her" Mr. Malfoy smiled coldly down at her. An icy chill ran down her spine.

The men talked for a few more minutes out of earshot of her and Draco. "How's it been?" Draco asked softly.

Cassi frowned at him. How much should she tell him? "Odd, really. Everything is still very new. A little tense, maybe. I'm still trying to figure him out." She answered him truthfully. Draco nodded. Cassi felt like he understood what it was like to have a father with expectations. Looks like she was going to get a first hand look at what went on in Malfoy manner.