Rated M for sexual content and mature themes.
Night had closed her grip around the manor. The shadows had lengthened. A slow creep of oblivion, until the fine drapes of the room that Cassandra sat in were swallowed up into darkness.
Still she sat on the circular emerald-velvet ottoman that dominated one corner of her bedroom, making no attempt to summon help for a light, as she listened to the sounds from the drawing room below.
Once, far too long ago now, the sounds had been chattering and laughter - the happy musical melody of careless conversation, but not now. Once Cassie would have been down there herself, keeping close to the safety of her mother's side, smiling and nodding in the way she had been schooled - a lovely object of her father's manor to be admired from a distance, where the guests to Malfoy Manor never noticed the cracks within - the paper moon sailing over a cardboard sea.
All that was gone, that charade of normality that had vanished that January night when lightning had split the sky and the rain had fell in sheets, as if heaven itself was weeping for the darkness that had been unleashed on the wizarding world.
When that dark shadow from Cassandra's childhood returned with wicked smiles and knowing eyes to help slowly to pull her family apart.
In the bedroom, Cassandra straightened her back alert. The doors to the drawing room had been pushed open. For so many nights now she had sat waiting in the darkness, waiting for her world to fall completely, that she had memorised the sounds of the house and knew each door's song and each floorboard's creak.
Getting gingerly to her feet she crept across, past the bird cage of her sleeping augurey, to her own door, her footsteps silenced by the plush verdant carpet beneath her bare feet.
Her father, she knew, preferred her to stay completely hidden, to keep up the ruse of illness that had kept her safe so far, but natural curiosity and a need to know, for in knowing there felt some control, led her to open the door and steal along the mahogany panelled corridor to the landing.
As she made her way carefully to the bannisters and peeped down into the hallway, she felt the eyes of her ancestors, the pale faces watching her from their portraits, their silence keeping her secret despite what they might feel about it.
Eyes widening in shock, she was almost thrown off her feet by the figure who barrelled up the stairs to throw himself into her arms.
The tight embrace and barely contained sobs reminding her of the little boy he had been and not the young man he was now.
"What has happened?" she whispered, frightened into speech as he hugged her tighter, his tears wetting her platinum locks that hung loose around her shoulders and entwined with his shorter crop. "Draco, what is it?" she demanded, her volume lifting.
He pulled back, his skin uncharacteristically blotchy, his grey eyes swimming, but as he opened his mouth to reply there was the fall of footsteps on the parquet floor of the entrance hall below.
The siblings looked down together, and Cassie found her gaze held by the man who stood below, his expression stoic as he looked back at her.
She knew him, of course she did, the friend of her father, a sort of distant fixture for most of her life, the dark-haired unreadable stranger who stood out at parties by his desire not to stand out.
Cassie had felt pity for him many times, knowing what it was to be the outsider trying desperately to maintain the mask of normality. She'd often wanted to speak with him but never had - forbidden as she was to speak to anyone without her mother's presence to guide and coach, and if necessary, cover for her.
She felt no pity for him now though, she'd heard the whispers - that he had usurped her father's place and brought in part their current instability with his ambition for favour. It was wrong, she knew, to hold Severus Snape soley responsible for all her family's woes, and yet he was a much easier figure to blame than those she truly feared.
"Come away," she murmured, pulling her younger brother by the arm and out of the vision of the figure below, but not before she had summoned a look of pure disdain to rival her mother's and directed it at the man who was watching them.
With some satisfaction she saw him shift with discomfort, but her triumph was short lived as a door below opened.
"Severus, wait a moment. I have more to discuss with you, follow me."
"Yes, My Lord."
Above, brother and sister clutched each other as they moved silently along the corridor, driven away by the chilling tone of the one they feared the most.
While upstairs, Draco wept in Cassie's soothing embrace, wishing both to disclose the horror he had seen below and shield his sister from it, below, in the study of the master of the house, The Dark Lord seated himself in one of the dragon-leather seats before the crackling hearth and gestured for his follower to do likewise.
"You did well tonight, Severus," Voldemort murmured, his eyes on the flames as his companion took his seat.
"My Lord?"
"I have known even those who seem most loyal to our cause to flinch and waiver at the pleas of those they know… and yet when that woman called on you for help, I detected not a flicker of mercy," Voldemort replied, his scarlet eyes drifting across to meet the other man's obsidian ones.
Severus' lips twitched up on one side. "The woman was worthless, in more ways than one, if I could I might have felt pity for her believing that I would stoop to feel the slightest movement at her pathetic entreaties, but she was so without merit in her muggle-loving beliefs that I felt nothing."
"And yet, there was a time," Voldemort began, the ghost of a smile on his thin mouth, "when you would have been moved. When you might have even asked me to intercede… I remember…"
"Then, My Lord, you will remember why I asked," Severus replied, his face a mask of indifference.
"Oh yes… desire… Hmm, yes, I understand desire… though I have never wanted something so base… Do you remember what I promised you after?"
After? Severus thought, After you murdered her you vicious prick? But instead he raised an eyebrow in mock puzzlement, "My Lord, I'm afraid I don't recall-"
"Other women," Voldemort interrupted, "Better… of purer blood, worthy of my most loyal servant."
"Yes, My Lord, I do remember your most gracious promises."
"Well then," Voldemort replied, a troubling smirk now on his deformed features, "I can fulfil my promise of it, and further bind those to me who might find themselves tempted to flee after tonight's mortifications."
"My Lord?" Severus replied, now genuinely confused, but with a growing apprehension that nothing good would come out of the conversation and that something very troubling was brewing.
"Go and find Lucius and bring him here," Voldemort murmured, his gaze shifting back to the flames. "It is customary in these situations to ascertain the father's consent… Go," he added as Severus stared back at him stunned.
"My Lord, I- Is it my understanding that you are suggesting a union between myself and the daughter of this house?"
"Yes, Severus, it is… You do not object I should hope? A finer marriage than you could have expected. The young woman is considered pleasing, isn't she? I understand that there have been several unsuccessful suitors since she came of age, each turned down through Lucius' pride and possessiveness of the girl."
Severus looked back, keeping his expression a blank as the cruel smirk returned to Voldemort's face.
So that was the plan, to humiliate the Malfoys even further and trap them. For Miss Malfoy to be used as a sort of hostage to keep the family from fleeing with their dwindling fortune to safer shores. To marry their precious daughter to him, the half-blood from the slums of Cokeworth - Severus could imagine it now, the abject horror and utter disgust of Lucius and Narcissa, and he himself saddled with a resentful bride who might well have brains enough to work out that her husband was not all he seemed. How was he to carry out his role with a nosy chit involved?
"My Lord, I am most grateful and humbled by your generosity, but-"
"Good," Voldemort interrupted, "fetch Lucius now."
"My Lord," Severus tried, "surely it would be best to wait-"
"It would not. It is my wish that you are to claim her by the end of the week. It will not be the extravagant affair that I'm sure Narcissa has dreamed of since the girl was in her cradle… but there is a war on," Voldemort intoned, and then the cruel smirk grew deeper, "I'm afraid I cannot allow you a honeymoon, Severus, but I'm sure the headmaster's rooms of Hogwarts will allow you to find pleasure enough with your young bride amongst the opulence that the private quarters are said to offer..."
Fuck, fuck, fuck, Severus thought as he walked swiftly down the drive, twenty minutes later, and away from the scene of horror he had left.
The scrunch beneath his soles of seemingly endless gravel helped to build on the brewing migraine that threatened as vignettes of the past nightmarish few hours flitted through his mind.
Charity - poor, stupid Charity. He'd barely had time to begin to process her hideous demise before the new horror of that sick monster's latest plan had been thrown strangle hold upon him.
Lucius' face - Merlin, the way he had literally recoiled in abhorrence when The Dark Lord had told of his wishes. It would have been better if Lucius had drawn his wand, not that he had one left to draw, and shouted insults and curses at Severus, but instead his old friend had turned grey and slumped down in a seat burying his face in his hands with a keening moan of defeat.
Severus was only grateful that he hadn't had to be there for Narcissa's reaction.
A sudden shriek from the gardens startled him, and for a moment he imagined it was the aforementioned witch's cry of dismay or her daughter's, but then the answer strutted across the path in front of him.
Pausing for a moment, he watched as the albino peacock picked its way across to the neighbouring yew hedge. The elegant creature vanishing into the darkness of the garden despite it virginal white…
How old was Cassandra Malfoy? He tried to calculate the dates, ah yes, three years older than her brother, so twenty, perhaps twenty-one at a push.
It was a sweet relief amongst the ugly bitterness that he'd never taught her, and the conversation came back to him, a half-formed memory rising up from the dark waters of his mind - Lucius informing him that Cassandra was to be homeschooled, to be kept far away from Dumbledore's malign influence and the attention of undesirable young men. Severus knew who he meant, he hadn't needed it spelt out - muggleborns and half-bloods… half-bloods like him.
With a sigh he glanced back towards the manor, his eyes drawn to a light on the second floor, perhaps his intended's bedroom….
He wouldn't sleep with her, it was bad enough the girl was going to be forced to marry him, they couldn't be forced to consummate it… and how would they know if they had or hadn't? The Carrows, Severus thought glumly, he knew they would be spying on him… and yet they wouldn't be able to prove it, and there was no way Cassandra would complain about her husband's lack of attention, was there? The way she'd looked over the bannisters tonight at him, that look of haughty disgust as if he was something unpleasant that had been tracked in to her family home…. The same way others had looked at him throughout his life…
With hot humiliation, Severus Snape turned sharply back towards the gates and strode briskly towards them, desperate to be away from that house and his bride to be for as long as possible.
The clock ticked in the Malfoy drawing room, the minutes leading ever onwards towards midnight. The last of the visitors had long since departed and to the relief of four of the occupants of the room - the Dark Lord had left on mission unknown.
The fifth occupant, the only one who would desire his company, stood beside the fireplace, her dark eyes observing the others with sick amusement tinged with fury.
"You should have sorted this years ago, now when it gets out, you'll sink even lower… and you'll pull me down with you!" the raven-haired woman hissed at her sister.
Narcissa looked up from her seat beside her daughter, her blue eyes rimmed with suppressed tear. "There is nothing to find out, Bella."
In reply Bellatrix let out a peal of mirthless laughter, "Really, Cissy? Really? Still lying to yourself? It took me about five minutes to spot it, and say what you like about him, and I have said many things, Severus Snape is not an idiot! He'll figure it out, and when he does-"
"This is not helpful, Bella!" Narcissa protested.
"This is not helpful, Bella," her sister mocked with a high pitch tone. "Then what is helpful? What is going to save the family name?! We have that blood traitor bitch sister, our half-breed niece bringing shame with her degenerate husband, and then on your side… her!" she spat out the last word, jabbing a finger towards Casandra who kept her head bowed.
"Severus is not a bad man. He helped you, didn't he? He tried to keep you safe!" Narcissa said turning to her son who sat sullenly in a chair to her left.
"Only so he could steal the glory for himself!" Bella retorted. "Do you think he's going to be pleased when he finds out what he has been saddled with? Fuck me, I'd find the situation hilarious if it didn't threaten to ruin us! Right now he's probably rubbing his hands in delight… or rubbing something else… thinking about how he's got the debutante of her generation, daughter of one of our eldest families, heiress to a fortune, not realising what he's about to climb on top of and stick his wand-"
"Bella, enough!" Narcissa demanded, her face pale with rage as she got to her feet.
In reply her sister fell silent, though her eyes still regarded her niece with contempt. "I suppose that's your only hope, little Cassie."
"What is, Aunt?" Cassandra replied, forcing her eyes up to meet Bella's despite how much the sight of her made terror grip her heart.
"That he will like so much what you have between your legs that he will overlook your defect. Do you know what's expected of you?"
Cassandra blushed, glancing across at her father who remained head bowed, his eyes on his hands that rested listlessly in his lap, still seemingly in a stupor of shock at the evening's events.
"I have read the books on animal husbandry," Cassandra softly replied.
"Oh yes, you and your peacocks" Bella jeered with new fury, "And that flea bitten augurey - running about looking after them like a little house elf, not that you are any good for anything else you dirty little-"
"Do not speak to my daughter like that," Lucius croaked, seemingly coming back to the present at the insult that hovered in the air unspoken.
Bella glanced towards him and then turned with a twisted smile back to her niece. "I'm afraid the knowledge of how birds procreate won't do you much good in your new life with Severus Snape… We'll have to get you up to speed quickly - observation only, of course." she finished with a mocking nod at her sister.
"What are you talking about?" Draco murmured, a frown on his forehead as he looked with apprehension between his sister and aunt.
"Oh, another innocent," Bella sighed theatrically. "I'm going to take your sister to one of the illustrious houses on Knockturn Alley so she can have a visual lesson on what it takes to please a man. I'm sure your father can recommend the best houses for us to pay a call at-"
"Get out, Bella!" Narcissa shouted, her last vestige of self-restrain leaving as she drew her wand.
"Calm down, Cissy… I'll go." Bella shrugged. "I'm only trying to help. The only chance that your daughter has of saving herself and her family is with the only part of her that Snape might think is worth keeping…. But if you can think of a better plan, I'd love to hear it." And with that, Bellatrix sauntered from the room, still seething from the position she found herself in but pleased that she could find delight in the distress of those who forlornly watched her go.
In the early hours of the following morning, Cassie sat in the seat of her bedroom window, watching as dawn slowly brought her light across the manicured lawns.
Beside Cassie, her augurey, kept a silent vigil with her.
Her heart was troubled, the unknown future facing her was immense, and yet the most overwhelming feeling for her was sorrow. Sorrow that she would have to leave her home behind, to leave the gardens and glades of the estate, to leave the birds she daily fed and loved, to leave her mother, father and brother.
"Will I be able to take you, Caladrius? Will that man have heart enough to let me?" she whispered, reaching out to stroke the glossy black feathers of the bird's crown her eyes still on the grounds below.
Death was stalking her, she knew that, she'd felt its presence for so long now - that one wrong move would topple her down into the abyss.
Was her hated aunt right? Was seduction her only means of saving herself and more importantly her parents and brother? She thought back to the night before, the look she had given him, if only she had known then what the next few hours would bring, if only she had smiled at him. She'd seen his discomfort… would he punish her for her snubbing of him?
With a start, she felt the drip of water on her fingers and pulled back her hand.
She watched as the tears rolled from the bird's beady eyes.
Rain was coming, perhaps even a storm – but in her despair she wondered if the old superstition was true, and that the augurey was weeping not to signal the weather, but instead because it knew… knew that its mistress was damned…