On the upper lawn of the manor, the peahen scurried back as the crow, once again, pecked viciously at her white feathers.

In vain, she twisted and turned to escape her attacker.

Above her, in the house itself, Cassie watched in anguish at the sight of the bird in distress. Usually she would have run downstairs and seen off the carrion herself, but she couldn't go down - she was already dressed in her bridal robes, and he might be waiting downstairs.

She wanted to call for Chokey, but the elf was afraid of the birds and she had no heart to see him frightened. In desperation, she pulled up the sash of the window, before grabbing up the emerald paperweight that rested on her dresser.

She was about to throw it, though she doubted her aim, when one of the peacocks charged across the lawn, his train up and quivering like a mass of white snakes' heads.

The crow took off with a furious caw, and Cassie watched as the male bird ushered his mate away to the safety of the yew hedges.

Stepping back from the window, Cassie gently placed the paperweight back in its place, but not before her eyes had trailed across the family crest picked out in silver within its glassy depths. 'Sanctimonia Vincet Semper', her family's motto – 'purity will always conquer' stared back at her.

Purity... her gaze wandered back to the bed and the open book that she had been absorbed in before she'd heard the cry of distress from the grounds. Gingerly, she made her way back to the four poster and sat, before pulling the book into her lap.

She had opened it at random, but it seemed the book knew what to show her. She wondered if her aunt had primed it so... or perhaps it was her own unconscious desire, and Cassie couldn't help but blush in shame to think the latter might be the case.

The double-page was entitled "The Virgin's Wedding Night" and consisted of a series of four images.

The first was labelled 'Unwrapping his gift" and showed a wizard with a thick wand in hand standing behind his new bride, his other arm wrapped around her waist as he traced the wand slowly down the frilly nightdress - gradually revealing her breasts. Cassie watched as the wizard's hand stroked slowly up from the waist, the fingers making their progress to caress one of the revealed nipp- With flushing face Cassie looked quickly away from the page, the tight coil of fear and something else that she refused to name deep inside her fading slowly away.

She should close the book, she knew it. It wasn't proper for her to be looking at it, even in the name of education and survival - what would her parents think if they knew? Her shameful eyes wandered about her room willing herself to shut the book, to put it away, and then her gaze fell on one of the open trunks in the corner. A similar nightdress to the one in the illustration was carefully folded on top of it, waiting for her to put it on later that night, waiting for Severus Snape to remove it...

Swallowing hard, she looked back at the page to see the second image. She needed to know however shameful and confused it made her feel, she needed the knowledge - to taste of the apple and gain some control, or at least foresight.

The second was entitled 'Learning her duty'. The wizard was still fully clothed, by all appearances, and sitting back in a wing-back chair with a satisfied smirk, while the naked bride was kneeling before him, her face buried between his open knees. Cassie stared at it perplexed, and then the image helpfully rotated to reveal the lesson…

The augurey momentarily startled from its nap at the gasp that escaped Cassie's lips, and she looked fearfully towards the door, hoping her cry hadn't alerted anyone else to her shock. She didn't want to be discovered looking at such an image... and was Severus Snape going to expect her to do that to him?

Reassuring herself that the corridor outside was silent, she quickly looked to the opposite page and the third figure, hoping that she wasn't going to discover some new and confusing act she had been ignorant of until a few moments ago.

She took in the words, 'Learning her place' and her eyes travelled with some trepidation to the image below. It was similar to the one her aunt had instructed her to look at the night before, the wizard on top, the bride firmly beneath, her hands gripping on to his shoulders as the marriage was unyieldingly consummated.

But it was the final image below that one that drew Cassie's attention.

It was entitled 'Rewarding his pet - Optional'. The bride was on her back still, the wizard now seated close beside her, and she was writhing about on the sheets beneath her. Her mouth open as her head snapped backwards - her eyes closed in pure pleasure. Again, as with the second image, Cassie was at first baffled to what was happening. What was causing the bride to react so - was it a spell? A potion? And then the perspective shifted and she saw how the wizard's fingers were relentlessly stroking, penetrating and fondling the bride's crux which seemed to shimmer despite the lack of colour. Cassie watched spellbound as the bride's body bucked with rolling hips, only half aware of the fact her own thighs were shifting together as dampness pooled within her in response to what she was witnessing.

And then she toppled from the bed in fright, as a soft knock sounded on the bedroom door.

"Please wait!" she called, as she crawled quickly to the nearest trunk and slipped the book into a gap between her packed robes.

Watching it make its descent, she reflected sadly that it was all for naught, that Severus Snape would realise long before the hour of bed what she was. What would he do then? That was the question. Would he use the knowledge for his own ends? Return her here to her parents in disgrace? Or inform those in authority who dealt with those like her - let them dirty their hands with whatever her fate would be?

The knock came again, with that hint of familiar demand, breaking her from her morbid thoughts.

"Come in."

"What are you doing?" Narcissa asked, entering the room, and gazing down at her daughter in concern.

"I-I was just checking that everything was packed as it should be."

"Get up!" her mother chided. "You should not be crawling about like that. I told you the girl saw to everything under my supervision."

Cassie nodded, getting to her feet and thinking of the girl – Heliotrope, who was as unlike the delicate flowers of her namesake as it was possible to be. An unfortunate teenager who was employed as a sort of 'maid of the robes' by the Malfoy's during the Hogwarts holidays and whose father was some low-ranking Death Eater minion. 'Hell' Draco had taken to calling her, something that Cassie had tried to admonish him on. "But she doesn't mind, do you, Hell?" Draco had shrugged. "No, Master Draco, Hell doesn't mind" the girl had replied, her eyes brushed with hopeless adoration for Cassie's brother, something Cassie hoped he didn't take advantage of during term time.

"I know," Cassie replied to her mother, as her eyes were drawn to the bouquet that rested on top of a green-velvet box her mother held in her arms.

"We have to go down soon," Narcissa intoned.

"He is here?"

"Yes," was the brittle reply. "Come, sit," Narcissa added, pointing to the cushioned stool in front of the carved dressing table.

Cassie obeyed, watching her mother's reflection in the looking glass as Narcissa put down the flowers and opened the aforementioned box.

"The Malfoy tiara," her mother smiled, removing the delicate diamond and platinum band and placing it gently on her daughter's head.

Cassie watched as with gentle movements from her mother's wand her hair curled and waved to hold the diadem in place.

"You look lovely."

Cassie made no reply to this, her eyes fixed on the reflection that looked back at her - another woman, another life...

"Aunt Bella was right, wasn't she?" she said, breaking the silence. "None of this was ever meant for me, was it? What was the plan?"

Her mother's reflection blinked, a slight turning down of that delicate mouth before a soft sigh escaped the lips. "We hoped- We hoped that Draco would marry someone understanding."

"Understanding?" Cassie asked, the image of that Parkinson girl who had come to one of the summer parties, a seeming lifetime ago now, that smirking face with its arched eyebrows that had showered Cassie with compliments that rang of falsehood - even despite the girl not realising the family secret that the receiver of her salutations held.

"Yes, understanding, so that once your father and I had gone... that you would be allowed to remain here until..." Narcissa trailed off.

"Until I died?" Cassie finished for her.

"Yes."

"It's alright, Mother," Cassie reassured, watching as the reflection above hers blinked heavily. "Either way I'd die. We all do, I guess this way I won't be a burden to you anymore."

There was a swift movement, hands gripped her shoulders and she was swung forcefully around so she was facing her mother who crouched down beside her in anguish. "Don't say things like that!"

"How long do you think it will take him to realise?" Cassie murmured.

"There is nothing for him to realise!"

"There is!"

"There is not!" Narcissa insisted. "Your health is delicate. You have been indulged and spoilt... and you will have Chokey there to assist you."

"Chokey?" Cassie asked, her brow knitting with confusion at the mention of the family's elf.

"Yes."

"But you won't have a house elf!"

"We will manage."

The enormity of it, the sacrifice that Cassie felt her family was making to keep her safe, swelled up and tears brimmed in her eyes. "Oh, Mother!"

"That's enough!" Narcissa demanded, stepping back and upwards away from her daughter's attempted embrace. "Keep your emotions in check!... Though..."

"What?"

Mother observed daughter as the memory came back to her… The feel of the thin rug beneath her knees, the scent of old potions from some hidden lab, the vision of him slowly bending and yielding to her supplication despite his reluctance and show of fortitude.

"Perhaps, if Severus thought something was amiss... he might be susceptible to your tears... But do not presume it! Confession must only be a last resort!"

Cassie nodded wearily, so much to remember, so many roles open to her - pampered heiress; beseeching victim; or willing whore - but which one would work on the enigma that was Severus Snape?

"Where am I to live?"

The memory returned again to Narcissa… the narrow, broken streets, the piles of rubbish, that hovel of Spinner's End. Muggle dunghill, Bella had called it, and she, for once, had been right. "He has a house in a town," she replied.

Cassie nodded, her mind miles away from Cokeworth. Instead, she thought of the townhouse of her great-aunt that she'd visited once. Tea with Great Aunt Walburga, just before the woman had died, an afternoon of sitting ramrod straight on the hard sofa. It had been a test she had realised later, and she'd past it at twelve with flying colours - but then her great aunt was half-mad with grief by then. Proof of which was the ancient witch mistaking Cassie's mother for her grandmother and thinking Cassie was Narcissa. "Such a good girl, isn't she, Druella? Such a credit to you!" Cassie's mother had played along, letting the old woman believe that she was in past days of glory where she so obviously wanted to be. They had taken their leave only when Walburga had repeatedly called for Regulus - growing more and more agitated when Cassie's long dead uncle did not appear to her summons. "Where is that boy? Usually he is so punctual. He and Narcissa will be so well suited, Druella, and so fond of each other already. Both such good, obedient children. Not like our others, but still we both got it right in the end, didn't we?" Walburga had laughed, and then her expression had fallen into terror, "Regulus?! Regulus?! Come here at once!" On the way home Narcissa had been strangely quiet, speaking only to instruct her daughter not to mention to her father her great aunt's ramblings.

In the bedroom, Cassie picked up the bouquet, suddenly desperate to get it over with. "We should go down, I don't want to risk his annoyance by keeping him waiting," she murmured as she started towards the door.

"Cassandra, your wand!" her mother cried, pointing in anger to the windowsill.

"Oh, I forgot."

Before her daughter could retrieve it, Narcissa snatched it up in a fury and pressed it into Cassie's open palm. "Do. Not. Forget!" she commanded.

In the drawing room below, the unhappy groom stood awkwardly looking up at the twisted bower of white heather and ivory hollyhocks above him.

He'd assumed the Malfoys wouldn't have decorated. That they would want the least amount of fuss, but while the room was mercifully devoid of guests apart from the nervous looking officiant who stood to one side, this canopy of flowers indicated in all its elegance what was about to take place. Severus knew as well that there was a message in the unusual choice for wedding flowers. White heather he knew was for protection and he assumed it indicated the family's wishes for Cassandra, but the ivory hollyhocks...? And then it struck him - ambition, hollyhocks were for ambition - the Malfoys were reminding him that he was an upstart whose ambition had caused this catastrophic event.

Muffled voices from behind the doors that led out into the entrance hall caused him to turn, his senses alert to the sound of argument.

"Lucius!" Narcissa's voice chided.

"I will not! I will not debase myself!"

"You promised, Lucius!

"I cannot! I cannot bear it! I-" Lucius seemed to have fallen silent in his distress, and instead the sound of retreating footsteps was heard before the voice started again, quieter than before so that for Severus it was little more than the angry buzz of bees amongst a hedgerow.

He wondered if he should investigate, but then the doors to the drawing room flew open, and with eyes purposefully forward Draco marched his sister into the room as she clung to his arm.

The siblings halted in front of Severus, Draco still glaring furiously forward before he stalked away to sit down on one of the positioned silver Chiavari chairs.

Severus watched as Narcissa slipped into a seat beside her son, her expression mask-like as she too stared forward at the far wall.

Finally, Severus looked at Cassandra.

She appeared every inch a pureblood bride - her ivory robes of satin and lace flowing about her in the late summer breeze that drifted in from an open window.

For an instant their eyes met, hers seemingly searching his expression for something – reassurance, he assumed, and he was about to give it to her, to summon up a smile to show her he wasn't a complete monster, but then his eyes fell on the bouquet she held…

Flowers have meaning, he'd seen the message above him, and for Cassandra to hold the flowers that represented purity would not have been unusual - but still he felt his heart twist painfully at the sight of the blooms his bride held. A sick joke. It was a farfetched idea to imagine the Dark Lord choosing Cassandra's bouquet, and yet in that moment Severus was convinced he had. For why else would the woman he had been 'gifted' as a consolation for Lily's death be holding a bouquet made up of her namesake?

Cassie looked down at the lilies she held in confusion and then back up at the ashen face of the man before her, wondering what had upset him so, but before she could begin to make enquiry the officiant began to speak and Severus turned purposefully from her.

She stole glances at him as the officiant began his speech on the sanctity of marriage and its purpose, of promises to be kept and vows to be made. Cassie, however took none of it in, horrified as she was at how she had already managed to offend the man who stood by her side. Had she given herself away? Was there something in the way she held flowers that marked her? Severus Snape was furious about something; she could see the tick high in his cheek that beat with such intensity.

The room went silent, and at last he turned to look at her, his dark eyes a blank of emotion.

She looked back at him, frozen with confusion, wondering what he wanted, what he was thinking.

There was a small pointed cough, and Cassie was shaken from her trance like state. Glancing around she saw that the officiant, her mother and Draco were all staring at her and she realised with new dismay that they were waiting on her to say something.

"Yes?" she hesitantly offered.

The officiant nodded, before turning to Severus, as Cassie looked about in confusion - what had she accepted? What had she agreed to? She was so busy trying to recall what had been said to her that she missed the words being currently spoken.

"Yes," was the monotone response from the groom.

The officiant nodded and then held up his wand. "Join hands," he instructed.

Cassie should have known it was coming. She'd been to weddings before. She'd seen the binding, and yet she hadn't considered in all her imaginings of what might await her in the bedroom, that before that, the simple act of holding hands with the man beside her would occur, and some how it felt far more hideously intimate and embarrassing than everything else.

Severus stuck out his hand, a quick brutal movement, which if she had known him, she would have understood as his own embarrassment, but instead she mistook it for disgust.

Forcing her arm upwards, she took his hand as the magic from the officiant's wand formed tightly around their fingers.

She'd expected Severus' hand to feel hot and rough, but instead it was invitingly cool and smooth - apart from the callouses of his fingertips that created the lightest of friction on the back of her hand. She looked up at him in surprise and found herself caught in his gaze again, but this time there was something in those fathomless depths, some stir of emotion, until she saw the eyes slip to her other hand and the flowers she held and he dropped her hand as if she had burnt him.

The marriage was done, the papers signed and the unhappy wedding party of the bride and groom, Draco, Narcissa and the newly arrived Heliotrope stood awkwardly in the entrance hall as Cassie's trunks made their painfully slow descent down the grand staircase.

There was still no sign of Lucius - probably drinking himself into oblivion, Severus thought bitterly as he eyed the last of the trunks and the cage that sat upon it.

"What is this?" he asked, breaking the excruciating silence.

"Caladrius," Cassie replied, "My augurey... please allow me to bring him with me."

Severus turned to take in the look of apprehension on his new bride's face, surprised by the pleading tone. This was not what he had expected, and he realised for the first time that he had rarely, if ever, heard her speak. The plummy tone was there, that accent that spoke of a life of privilege and leisure, but there was an edge of something of humility that surprised him.

"Of course," he muttered, before turning back to eye the bird.

He was not particularly familiar with augureys. Birds on the whole had never appealed to him - too unreadable in their almost reptilian look. He preferred cats, though he would never have admitted to it, but he could hardly deny the poor girl her pet when she had been forced into this unhappy union as much as he had been - no matter what his feelings were on ornithology and the fact that there was also something else about this particular specimen that was unsettling him...

"We are giving you Chokey as a wedding gift," Narcissa spoke, distracting Severus from his thoughts.

"Chokey?" he intoned.

"Our elf," Narcissa replied, "he will now serve you and Cassandra."

Severus looked back at his new mother-in-law, taking in the mask like expression so familiar to him. I bet he will, he thought darkly, watching his every move no doubt, and reporting back.

"That will not be necessary," he replied coolly.

Narcissa's brow creased, and Draco shifted awkwardly. "This is a gift, Severus... a very valuable one."

"And I appreciate the sentiment, but I will not dream of taking your elf from you."

Mother and son exchanged the briefest of looks. Did they honestly think he was stupid enough to let them plant a spy? Severus thought darkly. Was this Bella's idea of being subtle?

"Cassandra is used to having an elf to wait on her."

"Well, that is unfortunate for her, but she will have to get used to not having an elf, and doing things for herself!" Severus snapped back.

There was a strangled sob from beside him and he turned to find Cassie fighting back tears.

He felt something tug at his heart, a splinter of remorse that perhaps he had been wrong about the Malfoys intentions - but what could he do? He couldn't take the risk!

"I will find you an elf," he finally muttered.

There was a snort of contemptuous disbelief, and Severus turned to glower at Draco who glared insolently back at him.

"It's time to go," he continued, keen to get far away from the manor and the accusing eyes of its inhabitants.

Cassie nodded, her expression a quivering mask.

She kissed her mother's cheek, embraced her brother, and then stepped back unable to look at them even though she felt that this might well be the last time she saw them. She couldn't take their pain, their fear, the fact that her father couldn't even bring himself to say goodbye - she would lose it completely if she did.

Severus stuck out his arm, and she took it, but before he could steer her out of the great front door, they both found themselves under siege from a blast from a wand in front of them.

"For fuck's sake, Hell!" Draco muttered, as Severus and Cassie blinked in astonishment as a shower of rose petals pelted down on them.

Cassie glanced up at her husband, and was surprised to see that his own wand was in his hand as if he had thought he was under attack.

The abashed Heliotrope scurried quickly away from the glare of both the son of her employers and her Head of House, as Severus made his exit with Cassie trailing after him.

Their feet sounded on the gravel as Severus marched towards the gate, making Cassie quickstep to keep pace as behind them the trunks and cage of the augurey followed.

Once through the wrought iron, Severus paused, seeming to breathe out in relief.

She watched him curiously, and for the first time she wondered if he too had been an unwilling participant to the wedding, but then her gaze fell on the elaborate cage of Caladrius and she turned back to look at the house.

That house - her gilded cage, for like her bird she had been safe within its walls. Where love, food, water and shelter had always been provided - who would do that for her now, and what would happen to her when her true state came to light now that there was no other plan?

"Take my arm," Severus intoned.

For a moment Cassie paused - drinking in her last view of home, and then with acceptance of her fate she reached out and obeyed.

That tight pull behind her navel, the unpleasant feeling of being squeezed, and then no sooner had it started but it stopped.

They had arrived on a stony track with dusk now falling rapidly around them.

Cassie looked about her in confusion.

This was no town.

Glancing up, she took in the winged boars who bookended the pillars of the huge gates.

"Is this your estate?" She asked, turning to the trunks to check on Caladrius.

Severus looked down at her incredulously - What kind of simpleton had he married? Did she think all people lived in such grandeur as her family did?

"This is Hogwarts," he replied frostily.

Cassie's reaction was instant and involuntary - a spin, a quick step back, her elbow catching the release of the cage door as she recoiled in a horror that left her swaying on the spot.

Caladrius stretched out his glossy wings and with swift movement fluttered up to perch on one of the gate posts, while his mistress continued to sway violently in her distress.

Severus found himself reaching forward to catch her mid swoon.

"What on Earth is wrong with you?" He demanded as she clung to him to keep upright.

"I can't be here!" Cassie cried. "My mother told me you had a house in town, take me there. I- I can't be here."

"I thought you would appreciate your residence here," Severus replied, thinking darkly of how histrionic her reaction would be to Cokeworth if she was this upset about living in a castle.

"I can't be here! I won't!" She repeated - it was too dangerous, she might be able to fool him but there were too many eyes here, too much magic in the very bricks, too many watching her.

"It was the Dark Lord's wishes that we are here, and It is far finer than-" Severus came to a halt, not wishing to admit the shortcomings of his childhood home however much he hated the place. "Your brother will be returning here tomorrow," he continued, trying a different tack. "I understand you and he are fond of each other."

"No, no," Cassie moaned, "Draco said he wouldn't come back, he said he couldn't after you-" It was her turn to stop, the unnatural death of Albus Dumbledore hanging unsaid between the newlyweds.

"He has no choice," Severus spat, furious at being reminded of that open wound and angry at finding how surprisingly bothered he was that she knew him as a murderer. "All those under eighteen must complete their education. It is the Dark Lord's orders, orders that we are all subjugated to - even you, Miss Malfoy!"

Cassie pulled away from him, her faintness past. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run… Let it happen then, she thought, but she wouldn't show him fear again. "I'm not Miss Malfoy anymore, am I? I am Mrs Cassandra Druella Snape now, aren't I?"

"Indeed!" Severus replied coolly.

Their eyes were locked, both wary of the other and yet masking it behind a combative gaze.

The seconds stretched on, a silence between them, but not like the one back at the manor, instead like the atmosphere before a summer storm - when the stratosphere is charged.

"Mrs Snape," Severus intoned, a tinge of sarcasm but the hint of something else below it, as he offered her his arm for the third time that day.

With hesitation Cassie took it. What else could she do? and together they turned and walked through the gates of Hogwarts.

The augurey watched them as they climbed the hill that led up to the castle, the trunks and cage floating behind them, and then with a mournful cry the bird took flight, gliding on the wind currents as it followed its mistress towards her new home…