Chapter Fifteen

Comfort Food

The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were halfway through brewing their potions when Cassie slipped into the dungeon classroom.

"I started your potion for you," Mia told her friend quietly. "It's just about ready to add the Billywig stings."

Cassie nodded her thanks, found her place on the instructions, and then carried on brewing the potion in silence. She obviously didn't want to talk so Mia left her alone. By the end of the lesson, Cassie seemed calmer and more relaxed, although as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs parted ways in the Entrance Hall, she was still brushing off Zoë's attempts at conversation.

"D'you think she'll be alright?" Lily asked Mia as the two of them walked down to the Greenhouses for Herbology.

"In time," Mia nodded.

"D'you think she knew? I mean she knows she doesn't live with her parents, but maybe she thought Scorp's gran was her mum or something."

"Mmm," Mia said. "But she's never talked about home – think about it, have you ever heard her talk about her parents, or her home, or anything? She always stays at Hogwarts in the holidays, too. I think she knew."

"Talking about Cassie Andrews?" asked a sneering voice. "Or should I say Cassie Lestrange?"

"Shut up, Ilonka," Mia said, turning to face the Slytherin fourth year who always seemed to pop up whenever she was least wanted.

"It's a free country," Ilonka shrugged. "I can say whatever I like."

"Yeah, and I can hex you if you say it," Lily growled.

Thankfully, they reached the greenhouses at that point, and Professor Longbottom quickly ushered the class inside. Mia made sure she and Lily sat as far away from Ilonka as possible.

"Hey." Al caught Cassie's hand as she went to walk past him in the Entrance Hall. "You okay?"

Cassie shrugged and made a non-committal sort of noise. "I can't face dinner. I'm going to get some food from the house elves and find somewhere to hide. Wanna join me?"

"Sure," Al said, taking Cassie's bag from her and adding the weight to his already heavily-laden shoulders.

Cassie looked at Al in surprise. "You're not going to tell me I have to face people?" she asked.

"Not right now," Al said, wrapping his arm around her waist. "It's not good to hide all the time, but sometimes..."

"Let's go to the kitchens," Cassie said, leaning her head on Al's chest as he hugged her.

"You go there a lot, huh?" Al asked as the two of them made their way across the Entrance Hall to the steps down to the basements.

Cassie nodded. "Heaps, especially in my first year when I used to skip meals and hide in my dormitory to write essays because I had to dictate to my quill. I used to go and get food from the house elves most days."

They were now walking along a basement corridor, and Cassie stopped before a portrait of a bowl of fruit. She tickled the pear, which turned into a door knob, and then opened a hidden door. The kitchen was a huge room, at least as large as the Great Hall above. It was laid out similarly, with five long tables almost filling the room. The room was packed with little House Elves, each bustling about on their own business.

A few of the House Elves nearest the door stopped when they saw Al and Cassie enter the kitchens. One of them stooped in a low bow, whilst squeaking excitedly, "Miss Cassie! Back so soon!"

"Hi Pobry," Cassie said, patting the Elf's head affectionately.

"Miss Cassie is bringing a noble sir to see us," another House Elf squeaked.

Cassie giggled at the description of Al. "You hear that?" she asked, poking him. "You're a 'noble sir'."

Al stuck out his tongue at Cassie and ruffled her hair.

"Gillie, this is Al," Cassie told the House Elf, grinning as she rested her head on her boyfriend's chest.

"Can we get you some food, Miss Cassie and Master Al, sir?" a third House Elf asked, scuttling over.

"Yes please," Cassie said. "We're not going to dinner, so we need... a replacement."

Already, Al could see the House Elves snapping into action, occasionally scurrying over to ask whether Al and Cassie wanted certain things or not. Within three minutes, the Elves had packed a basket with more food that two people could possibly eat in an entire day.

"If you leaves the basket somewhere, we will finds it," one of them said.

"Thanks," Cassie said. "But I'll probably bring it back anyway."

The little group of House Elves who were gathered around them bowed as Cassie and Al left.

"They're funny little things," Al said, once they were back outside in the corridor, the door melting back into the painting behind them.

"Yeah," Cassie said. "I like them, though."

"Yeah, me too," Al nodded. "And now to hide. I have an idea."

Cassie grabbed his arm. "Promise I won't have to see any other people tonight."

Al kissed her forehead. "I promise." He pulled the Marauder's Map out of his bag, tapped it with his wand and muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

"That's the Map?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah," Al nodded. "James gave it to me, the night before school started. So we can avoid meeting anyone."

Ten minutes later, they had made it up to a deserted seventh floor corridor without meeting a single soul.

"Here we are," Al said, stopping opposite a tapestry of ballet dancing trolls.

Cassie looked from the tapestry to the stretch of blank wall opposite. "Is this... the Room of Requirement?" she asked.

Al nodded, grinning.

"But I thought it didn't work?" Cassie said. "The Fiendfyre, in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"That's the story they put about in Modern History, because the Room wouldn't be special if everyone used it."

Al closed his eyes are started pacing back and forth along the blank stretch of wall. Cassie watched, mesmerised, as a door materialised out of thin air. Al opened his eyes and turned the handle.

The room beyond the door was small and full of cushions. Al walked in and Cassie followed.

"So, no one could find us in here?" Cassie asked, as she and Al sat down amongst the cushions.

"Nope," Al said, kicking his shoes off. "Even if they knew we were here, they wouldn't be able to get in."

Cassie stretched out on the cushion heap, her head in Al's lap.

"I wish we could stay here forever," she sighed, looking up at him.

Al started playing with her hair. "You know that's not possible, honey," he said.

"I know," Cassie sighed.

"How was this afternoon?" Al asked.

"Mmm..." Cassie said non-committally.

"Did anyone try and talk to you about the paper?" Al prompted.

"Shall we have something to eat?" Cassie suggested innocently.

"Cassie..." Al said sternly.

Cassie sighed. "I had double Tranfiguration," she said eventually.

"And...?" Al prompted, as Cassie picked up a cushion and hugged it to her chest.

"And it was horrible," Cassie said flatly. "Professor Duncan kept making snide remarks about it all lesson, and then at the end Ilonka and Brooke cornered me..."

"What did they say?" Al asked, his hands balling into fists.

Cassie didn't reply.

"Cassie, you can talk to me," Al said.

"They were just jeering... said none of my friends would want me anymore, so Ilonka said I better join her gang... then Zoë jinxed her."

"Oh honey..." Al said. "You know it was all lies, right? Good on Zoë."

"Yeah..." Cassie said.

"Like I said this morning, it doesn't matter to people who matter – me, all your friends... and if it matters to someone, then they don't matter. I'm gonna talk to Duncan, though."

"Don't," Cassie said, grabbing his arm.

Al shook his head. "He can't get away with it, Cass," he said seriously. "He's a teacher. Him making snide remarks, making you feel uncomfortable... it's not on."

"I'd rather you just left it alone..." Cassie said.

"I know," Al said. "But you understand why I can't?"

"I guess," Cassie sighed.

"Let's eat," Al suggested. "And try and forget about all this... unless you want to talk about it?"

Cassie fetched the basket and sat beside Al. They ate in silence for a several minutes before Cassie broke it.

"My aunt told me my mum died in childbirth," she said eventually in a small voice, barely above a whisper.

"Oh Cass..." Al said, putting his arm around her.

"I always thought she loved me..." Cassie continued. "And if only she'd lived... but now... if she loved me, surely she wouldn't have killed herself... abandoned me."

Al didn't know what to say.

"D'you think I should prepare for Howlers tomorrow?" Cassie asked absent-mindedly, picking out all the tomatoes from the salad for Al because she knew he liked them.

"I hope the general public won't care that much," Al said, offering Cassie the last chicken leg.

"As if," Cassie scoffed. "It made the front page of the Prophet: 'Death Eaters' granddaughter at Hogwarts'. Of course people care."

"I don't know why, though," Al said. "Scorpius' granddad was a Death Eater."

"And his dad," Cassie said.

A sudden thought seized Al. "You're related to Scorp..." he said.

Cassie nodded. "He's my second cousin. Same relationship as you and Mia."

Another thought struck Al. "My grandmother killed your grandmother..." he said slowly.

"I know," Cassie said dismissively. "But I think the whole caring thing – it's more because no one knew and they thought we were hiding it. Aunt Narcissa said there was no point telling people... it's not like I ever lied to anyone. Everyone knows about Scorp's family... or Theo Nott – you know, Slytherin, my year – but because no one ever knew Bellatrix had a daughter no one ever knew about me... especially since I have my dad's surname."

"Have you ever met your dad?" Al asked.

Cassie shook her head. "Aunt Narcissa just called him 'that Muggle boy', and she only ever spoke about him once. I don't even know his first name."

"Would you like to find him?" Al asked.

Cassie hesitated. "Maybe," she said eventually. "He might be able to tell me about my mum – Aunt Narcissa won't talk about her..." she leaned her head on Al's arm and nearly a minute passed in silence before she spoke again. "I just want to wake up and find that this was all a bad dream."

Al kissed the top of her head. "I wish I could tell you that's possible, honey. I can say that it'll gradually get easier."

"I love Hogwarts," Cassie sighed. "It was the first home I ever had, really – Malfoy Manor's never felt like home. And now everyone knows my grandparents were Death Eaters, and it's... it's just not going to be the same. Everyone will hate me."

"Not the people who matter," Al said gently. "I don't care – it doesn't make any difference to how I feel about you – I still love you more than you could ever imagine. And the others – Lily, Mia, Hugo, Zoë, the whole gang, this won't change things for them either."

Cassie lifted her head from Al's arm and kissed him. "I love you," she said. "You've been amazing today. There's no way I could've got through it without you."

"I'm not going anywhere," Al promised.