A sharp, shrill sound pierced the air.
Cassie ignored it. It sounded again, breaking the quiet atmosphere of the August afternoon where the only sounds she could hear were the gentle chirping of crickets and the slow drip of the hose onto the patio floor.
The telephone kept ringing and Cassie sat up from where she was stretched out on the grass, soaking up the sun with the Transfiguration book she was supposed to be reading over her face.
"Cassie can you please get that" her mum called from inside the house "I've got my hands in the washing up bowl"
Cassie stood up, brushing off the blades of grass from her shorts and stretching her long legs with a groan. She padded across the grass towards the house, hissing slightly as her bare feet met the concrete patio as she neared the back door. Cassie ducked inside the house, sliding her sunglasses up into her hair and blinking as she adjusted to the light of the kitchen.
"It's probably Eileen from work" her mum said as the telephone continued to ring "She doesn't know what the words 'day off' means"
Cassie snorted, familiar with the antics of her mum's boss, time and time again had her mum been called away to fix the latest problems of the Muggle legal world.
"Cassandra Black have you put on the suncream I told you to wear" her mum advanced forwards, soapy plate still in hand.
Cassie gulped as her mum noticed the suncream bottle was still on the cluttered kitchen table where she left it.
"What about your poor arm ?" her mum continued
Her parents had not been pleased when Cassie had arrived home last month with a scarred arm and a shorter haircut. The hair, they got over pretty quickly once her mum had dragged her to a salon to fix the jagged edges but the arm was an issue that still persisted, especially as Cassie had only given a vague explanation of a Quidditch injury. Her mum's latest obsession was forcing Cassie to apply heavy duty sun cream every hour to prevent the scars from darkening.
"Yes, yes, I'll put it on in a minute" Cassie said, ignoring her mum's displeased expression and walking down the corridor towards the telephone which was vibrating intensely, almost coming off its hook.
The telephone had stopped ringing for a second and Cassie thought that was it but almost immediately it began to ring again, seeming even louder than the first.
"Bloody hell, she's persistent" Cassie muttered, before taking the phone off its hook.
"Hello" she said, injecting some false cheer into her voice
"Hello Cassie" came the response, but it was not the dry tones of her mum's boss but rather, the familiar voice of her best friend.
"Hermione ?" Cassie said into the mouthpiece, incredibly confused "I thought I was going to call you tomorrow."
"Cassie" Hermione breathed, there was something in her voice that Cassie couldn't identify, a strain she'd never heard before.
"Is something wrong?" Cassie asked, now getting worried "Is it Harry, did something happen with his aunt and uncle? Or Ron, is everything okay in Egypt ?"
"No, it's nothing to do with those two" Hermione continued on in that strange voice "Have you seen the news today?"
"The news?" said Cassie, rather stumped as to where this was going. "Erm- no, I don't really watch the news."
"Put on the television Cassie" said Hermione, her voice getting even tighter
"Um, okay" said Cassie, stretching the wire of the phone round the corner into the living room.
Cassie quickly found the remote and switched on the television, tucking the phone under the chin as she did so. The dreary theme tune of Countryfile blasted out of the speakers and Cassie made a face.
"Did you want me to watch Countryfile" said Cassie, speaking into the telephone again "I have to say Hermione, this is a new low, even for you"
"No, not Countryfile," said Hermione, exasperated "The news, Cassie, the news!"
"Oh right" replied Cassie, fumbling with the remote and flicking through the channels until she reached the sight of a news reporter "I'm watching now"
Hermione's silence on the other end of the line was worrying.
"And now, just in, news of an escaped convict" the news reporter began "The public is warned this man is incredibly dangerous and thought to be carrying a gun. If sighted, he should not be approached and the police should be called."
The news reporter then moved to the side as the mugshot was displayed, the convict's name flicking up at the bottom of the screen.
Cassie drops the telephone.
It clatters heavily against the wall as it swings, making an awful noise and pulls her mum towards the living room.
"Cassie what on earth-"
There is the sound of china shattering as her mum catches sight of the television. She walks straight past the shards and presses her still soapy fingers against the flickering screen. Her mum is opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, face paling.
"I don't understand," her mum chokes out.
Her mum doesn't understand because the mugshot on the television is of her dad.
Well, it's not her dad, Cassie knows that. Her dad is at work, helping people as he always is and he's certainly never been inside a jail, let alone escaped from one. Her dad and the man on screen look frighteningly similar though, same dark grey eyes, thin straight nose and thick dark hair, however, the convict's hair is matted, long and wild, his eyes are narrowed with hatred and both his nose and lips are marred with blood. They could be twins, this man and her dad, they look so alike, she looks so alike thinks Cassie with a jolt to this "Sirius Black" she reads off the bottom of the screen.
Cassie then realises Hermione's disembodied voice is still echoing from the telephone and she picks it up from where it is hanging,
"Cassie, Cassie" comes Hermione's worried voice "Are you alright?"
"I'll speak to you tomorrow Hermione" replies Cassie in a flat voice she does not recognize and hangs up the phone.
Then Cassie turns and runs out of the living room, not wanting to look at the mugshot for a second more and leaps up the stairs, the name Sirius Black ringing in her ears. She bursts into her room, letting the door slam against the wall and begins to rummage around in her trunk. When that search results in failure, she frantically moves around her room, having little regard for any of of her things she throws aside before finally throwing herself onto her front and peering under her bed.
"Gotcha" Cassie mutters as her hand closes around the spine of the book.
She brings it out and brushes the dust off the front cover, revealing the title 'The History of Family Black, 1202 - Present'. It was the book Malfoy had given her back in First Year and she'd never looked at it, preferring to shove it under bed at the nearest opportunity. However, now she opened up the ancient book, many handwritten notes spilling out onto her carpet. Malfoy's mother had certainly done her research, there were pages titled 'Squibs' and 'Reappearance of Magical Abilities' but that was not what Cassie was looking for. She brushed aside the notes and scoured the index page of the book and found what she wanted, flipping the pages until she reached 'The Black Family Tree' and ran her finger over the many lines, some incredibly intertwined until she found the name 'Sirius Black'.
Cassie drew her finger upwards, looking at who his parents were and dropped the book with a start. That couldn't be right. There, staring back at her, in bold script were the names 'Orion and Walberga Black' and then, underneath them, three boys, three brothers, Darius, Sirius and Regulus.
Cassie sat back on her heels, thoughts running a mile a minute and thought back to everything her dad had told her about his family, hardly anything really, just his parent's names and vague, harsh memories of them, he'd been only five when they'd given him up. Cassie remembered back to when Professor Mcgonnal had come to give her Hogwarts letter:
"Wait Professor," said her Dad "Did you..did you know my birth parents ?"
Professor Mcgongall halted in the doorway,
"I did, not closely and we certainly were not friends"
"And did they have any more children ?" asked her dad, both hope and fear flashing in his eyes.
Professor Mcgonagall took a deep breath and seemed to be having a deep discussion with herself.
"No," she said finally, although she looked slightly guilty and Cassie wondered if she was telling the truth.
Well, now Cassie knew that had been a lie and she simmered with anger. She didn't even have enough thought space to address Professor Mcgonnall's dishonesty as she looked back at the family tree.
She noticed that each name on the family tree had a number corresponding to the page where they were explored in more detail. Cassie turned to her dad's page and snorted with rage when the only words on the page were 'Darius Phineas Black, died aged five (1958) in a tragic accident at his home at Grimmauld Place'. Acting on instinct, she turned the page and found herself looking at a picture of Sirius Black again. He was younger than in the mugshot, smiling and offering her a wink from the page of the book, now the similarities between him and her dad became even more apparent, same handsome face, same tilted, almost wolfish smile. Her smile.
Her eyes slid to the bottom of the page and read:
'Sirius Black is currently imprisoned in Azkaban for the massacre he committed on 1 November 1981, murdering thirteen people with a single curse. He is believed to have committed this atrocity out of anger due to the Dark Lord's defeat the previous evening'
Cassie felt bile rise in her throat, she was related to this man, her uncle no less and this is what he had done, murdered thirteen people and now he had escaped from prison.
Again, she turned the page, the name 'Regulus Arcturus Black' at the top of the page. A solemn boy looked up at her from the page, he couldn't have been much older than her, perhaps fifteen and Cassie was struck by how much she looked like him. She had always believed she took after her dad, her mum often joked that her genes didn't even try and indeed, they did look incredibly alike but seeing this picture of the young Regulus, it seemed he was who she took after completely. Cassie skimmed over the page until 'Regulus Black was the youngest member of the Dark Lord's army' and her breathing began to increase, she flipped over the page again and again, not looking the names but the words began to jump out at her 'Death Eater', 'Trusted member of the Dark Lord's Inner Circle' , 'Torturer', 'Murder', 'Black Family Madness'
Cassie leapt up, letting the book fall to the floor, her breathing was becoming difficult and she wondered if she was going to be sick. Since her entry to the Wizarding World, she'd not heard much about the Black family, but this is who she was related to, this was the blood in her veins. She strode over to her window, leaning her head out and gulped in the cool air.
Was this her fate? Was she too going to eventually align with her family and commit dark atrocities? Could she escape what seemed to be like her fate? And this family madness that afflicted so many, would she succumb to that too? Was the Sorting Hat right to have said she belonged in Slytherin like the rest of her family ? Her father was a squib, outcast from the family but Cassie was magic, she had that Black family magic running in her veins. Was this who she was now ?
Cassie clapped her hands to her head, trying to drown out the swarms of thoughts crowding her mind. She stepped back into her room, chest heaving and caught sight of herself in the mirror hanging over her drawers. They were all so alike, the Black family, their genes were strong. 'What else is strong?' whispered the voice in her mind again, 'You're going to be just like them.'
Cassie tried to take in a breath but struggled, she couldn't tear her eyes away from looking at herself in the mirror. Grey eyes narrowed, cheeks flushed, dark hair wild from running her hands through it.
The image flickered and it was not herself she was looking at any longer but Sirius Black, their features merging and his taunting smile grinning back at her. It flickered again, and Cassie saw his mugshot and then, it was not him but her being held for the picture. Teeth bared, murder in her eyes.
With a scream of rage, Cassie picked up the book and launched it at the mirror, watching as it shattered into pieces across her carpet. Cassie fell to her knees and sobbed as the voice in the back of her head hissed 'Well now you're just proving me right'