Cass's foray into Muggle dance and ice skating costuming had come about in a highly coincidental way.

It wasn't something that would've ever crossed her mind before, but a few years ago, Cass had started frequenting Muggle boutiques looking to keep her wardrobe fresh. She rarely interacted with Muggles other than the cashiers at said boutiques. But once in a while, there'd be another shopper who'd get chatty with Cass. Cass wasn't sure why. She put it down to always being the most fashionable person in the room.

Cass would've normally made a non-commital comment to the girl who asked for her opinion on a dress, but something the girl said gave Cass pause. She needed a dress for her ice dancing competition and getting it custom-made was too expensive if she wanted it to look anything nearly nice. The boutique they were at wasn't exactly cheap, so it must not have been money that was the problem for the girl.

So, Cass told the girl none of the dresses in the shop looked flattering, and gave her her card.

It turned out to be one of Cass's most profitable ideas. No one would pay the big bucks for some hand-crafted garment by a no-name designer, whether it was nice or not. But people would pay a lot of money for these dance costumes if they were nice, no matter who made them. Plus, with the elves' help, Cass could churn them out faster than most other designers in the field, not to mention the elves' frugal pay left a hefty sum for Cass.

And very honestly... Cass enjoyed it. She liked coming up with designs and matching them up to the music the dancers used for their routines, she liked going absolutely crazy with sequins and crystals.

Cass could make most costumes without having to meet a client at all or maybe once if Cass was able to, but once in a while she'd get a customer who was tricky and demanded a meeting and to get their measurements taken by Cass personally. Cass usually declined that work, but this time... well, she'd already run the numbers and after corresponding with the client once, she was pretty sure she could squeeze this girl for a significant amount of money. So, she acquiesced.

It worked out either way, more or less. That coming Hogsmeade weekend, Cass went into the village and headed straight for the Hog's Head where she met with her Muggle world liaison–something Cass was loath to pay for but needed if she wanted to communicate with Muggles via something other than owl while she was at Hogwarts.

Tyler was a Muggle-born wizard who had graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago, and Cass had run into by chance on a run to a fitting at an ice rink (she refused to pay rent on a space she'd barely use for a studio, so she went where her clients were). She hadn't recognised him, but he'd recognised her. They'd struck up a deal.

They barely said two words to each other before Cass took Tyler's arm and they Apparated into the very same rink they'd met at.

Kara, Cass's client was waiting for her by the entrance already, Prada purse in hand. "Ready to go?"

Cass raised a brow. "Go where?"

"My house is just a few minutes away. We'll have more privacy there," Kara said, already walking through the parking lot, keys in hand. "Don't worry, I'll bring you back. I have to come back too."

Cass gave Tyler a look. Then she followed after Kara.

Cass had only ever ridden magic-rigged cars, but she imagined they couldn't be all that different from fully Muggle cars. Kara's vehicle was a large sleek SUV from a brand Cass was sure was very nice.

Kara started messing with the joystick and Cass felt her stomach lurch as they pulled out of the lot. She did not realise until that moment that Kara would be fully operating the vehicle... just all by herself. She tried not to let her nervousness show.

They got to Kara's house quickly, at least. It was bigger than Malfoy Manor, though not by a lot.

"You're young," Kara said when they got out of the car, looking at Cass curiously.

Kara didn't look much older than Cass herself. "So are you."

Kara shook her head. "Nah, I'm twenty-two, practically ancient for a free skater, but luckily a good age for an ice dancer. But you... you are proper young. You're probably still in school, aren't you?"

"I'm sixteen," Cass answered reluctantly.

Kara seemed surprised. "You don't have to be defensive over it. I understand what it's like to be very good at what you do at a young age. I respect it. I only expected this hot new costume designer to be older, that's all."

She walked into the house.

It honestly didn't look that different from any rich wizard's house... just a different colour scheme, this was more cream tones and simple textures, unlike the darkness and baroqueness of places like Malfoy Manor.

Kara led Cass down a wide hallway until they came upon a large bedroom.

They were barely inside when Kara started talking about her ideas for her costume. "I don't want it to be super glittery. I mean... some glitter, of course, but just a tad. No offence but most of your costumes are okay but not very remarkable. The reason I came to you is because I saw that one girl's dress you made with the beautiful flamenco skirt. Not a lot of designers in our world can drape like that."

Cass brushed off the comment, unsure what to say, and pulled her sketchbook out of her bag.

Kara's free dance programme was going to be a tango, and Cass had already drawn up some sketches. They sat down at the desk and bounced ideas around for a while.

"Are you a skater?" Kara asked, out of the blue, after they'd settled on two final ideas.

"No," Cass said.

Kara was giving Cass that curious look again, like she was some fascinating creature. "Hm. How'd you end up doing this?"

Cass briefly told her the story about the Muggle boutique.

"Well, it's too late to be a pro skater now, but I think you were an ice dancer in another life."

Cass's treacherous heart skipped a beat. She went stiff. "Why?"

"It's just... the way you carry yourself. You have excellent posture, and I don't how to explain it... you just look like you would be comfortable on the ice but most importantly, you have grit. I can tell. Like you could fall but get right back up as if nothing happened. That's practically half of what being a skater is."

Cass shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She cleared her throat. "So... we're agreed on the fabric I showed you?"

Kara allowed the change of topic without complaint. "Yes. And you'll have it done by the second?"

Cass nodded. She stood up. She really wanted to get out of there.

Kara drove them back to the rink. Cass tried not to focus on the possibility of a fatal crash in Kara's death trap.

Cass was more than ready to go back to Hogsmeade but Tyler was on the ice and motioned to wait for him a second. And there was nothing Cass could do but huff and wait because she wasn't seventeen until August and she was basically helpless out here without magic.

She stood rinkside watching the skaters go by. A couple of ice dancers were running through a programme in costume. The girl's long skirt waved beautifully with the speed they carried. Designing for movement was difficult, but Cass appreciated it. She still had a lot to figure out when it came to designing clothes but she knew she'd love to make something that looked that beautiful in motion.

The sound of the blades slicing through the ice was oddly satisfying. It was difficult to believe how confidently the skaters moved standing on such a thing blade. It was quite mesmerising seeing them.

Then Tyler was done with whatever kid he'd been helping and headed over to Cass. He nodded towards the ice. "You wanna try?"

Cass recoiled. She scowled. "No."

Tyler raised a brow. "Okay. Come on."

He brought her back to Hogsmeade.

The universe must've been conspiring against Cass (more than usual) because when she got back to her dorm there was a letter from the journalist who'd gotten the contact info for Cass's mother's family.

Miss Turkkila (I'm not sure what to call you?),

I'm sure you're aware that I've recently forwarded the Turkkilas' contact information to your stepfather. I apologise for the delay. You must be wondering why I'm writing to you now and I hope you read this letter.

The reason why I'm writing is not directly related to your mother's family. I'm not sure if you know this but your mother's disappearance wasn't the only disappearance I covered during or after the war. Through the years I've tried to spotlight the many victims who fell to You-Know-Who's violence. After the war, I became especially interested in the victims who were never found, whose remains were tossed into the sea or the forest without a second thought.

Doing that research, I became familiar with a group of (mostly) mothers who to this day keep searching for their loved ones' remains. They're a small group but they are very dedicated, they still go on searches and actively seek to find disappeared people. I think it's a very noble labour what they do and I can safely say they are all remarkable human beings.

They've actually found some remains through the years, and even better, they've found some people alive.

As I said, I'm not sure how familiar you are with my work, it's not published in the Daily Prophet or any big news outlets. This topic hasn't been covered much at all but you should know that you are not the only baby that was taken by Death Eaters during the war. There are seven others that I know about for sure, but there might be more. It's not widely known in the wizarding world but it's true. Most of the babies were the children of blood traitors who were taken with the express purpose of raising them to be the good little pure-bloods they were meant to be, and they were placed with Death Eater families who couldn't conceive or just wanted to do a "good deed".

Most of them, I believe, were taken under somewhat similar circumstances as you. They've proven difficult to track down, as you can imagine. Last I heard, the mothers had managed to find only one of them.

The reason I'm telling you this is because the mothers keep a database of all the people who disappeared during the war and their goal is to find them all. You are on that list (only identified as Linnea Turkkila's child, of course), and you don't have to do this if you don't want to, but I think it would be great for them to find out you were found. They could do with some hope at the moment.

I haven't spoken to them yet, but with your permission, I could tell them you were found, I think they'd believe me even if I can't give them much evidence, but I don't know that it'd be enough to strike your name off the list. And of course, you could also talk to them directly. I'm attaching the contact information for the leader of the group. She's very kind and very discreet. I think she'd love to talk to you but it's your choice.

I await your response.

Sincerely,

Arvin Scotti

If she was being very honest, the real reason why Cass had talked to that girl at the boutique that day had nothing to do with her business. The reason why she'd done it was because one of the very few things Cass knew about her mother that wasn't a useless fact like her birthday or her nationality, but something real, was that Linnea Turkkila was a great ice skater. It'd been on Christmas that Cass and Sirius talked about what they would do if they could get out of the house (something they'd made a bad habit of), and Sirius said he'd take Cass ice skating. Sirius didn't know Linnea very well, that had been clear to Cass almost from the get-go. They'd hooked up a few times and they weren't even really friends when she got pregnant, and they never got the chance to get to know each other much before Linnea was taken. But one of the few things Sirius knew about Linnea was that she was a very good ice skater, so good that she could've done it professionally if she hadn't stopped when she went to Hogwarts. He knew that whenever she was stressed out or sad, she'd take her skates out and go to the rink that was too far from her flat, even when she was six months pregnant. Knowing that made Linnea seem like a real person to Cass, not just a shadowy blur locked in the basement of Malfoy Manor. It was a knife through the heart. But it was what Cass had for now. And she'd sure as hell cling to it.