After practicing Occlumency with Snape two more times that weekend, Cassie was rather pleased with the results. She had been able to push him out of her mind in record time, and even he had given her the rare compliment afterward, 'I never would have thought you capable of such discipline, although I'm not confident that it will last much longer than a fortnight'.
They both went into the next week of lessons knowing they had given her the tools she needed to keep her would-be intruder out, and their agreed-upon plan was for her to meditate before bed, clear her mind of any thoughts or emotions so there was nothing to prey upon. It was a daunting task at first, but Cassie was up for it. Sunday night, she sat on her bed and drew the canopy shut, cast a silencing charm, and did just that.
Monday morning, she didn't have to ask the girls in her dorm if she had woken up screaming, as they told her right away that she hadn't, and that they had all nearly overslept for classes because of it. She almost wanted to skip on her way to breakfast, she was so tickled. When she got to the Great Hall, she purposely caught Snape's eye and gave him a small smile and a nod to communicate that all was well, and she got a curt nod in return.
Lessons were gloriously uneventful, and although she was tempted to be distracted by her success and thoughts of Snape, she used her freshly proficient skills to fixate on the tasks in front of her. It wasn't until she was sitting at her spot in the library, ready to tutor, when she let her mind wander freely again, and then she was quickly preoccupied with Hermione Granger.
"Granger, why don't we let Neville ask a few questions?" Cassie suggested after playing another round of trivia in which Hermione never, ever gave the incorrect answer.
"He's learning just by listening, aren't you, Neville?" Hermione said rather quickly and went back to searching through her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook to find a subject to be tested on. Neville looked like he was about to say something, but was cut off when Hermione starting to speak over him.
"Hold on, Granger," Cassie said, and she flicked her wrist, effectively closing the young girl's textbook and earning an annoyed 'hmph' from her. "Speak up, Neville."
"Well, it's just..." he started.
"Go on," Cassie encouraged, and Hermione folded her arms over her chest impatiently. Just then, Ron and Harry walked in and immediately started to make their way over to her table as well. Neville seemed to gain newfound confidence by the boys' appearance, and his voice found an audible volume.
"It's just, Potions," Neville said, and then stopped there.
"Yes, what about Potions?"
"It's terrifying!" Neville exclaimed, and Ron and Harry, both overhearing him, seemed to agree wholeheartedly. Cassie laughed a bit at the first years' response.
"The subject of Potions is terrifying, or the professor is terrifying?" she asked, and the Gryffindors exchanged worried glances. Only Hermione appeared to remain indifferent. "Well, what can I help you with? Would you like to work on your essays together? Or we could go over the last potion you made in class and see where you went wrong."
"Can we make the potion that we'll be making in this week's lesson?" Ron asked with an air of hopefulness in his voice, and Cassie shook her head. She was about to tell him that Professor Snape would consider that an unfair advantage over the rest of the class, but Hermione suddenly cut in.
"That's cheating!" she nearly screeched, and Ron winced like someone had drug their nails across a chalkboard.
"Calm down," Cassie said, wanting to speak before Ron did, because his ears were turning the shade of pink that was the Weasley family trait, and she knew he was about to lose his shit, "it was just a suggestion, and we aren't going to do it. How about we make last week's potion. I have to fetch the ingredients from the dungeons, but I'll be back as soon as I can." She left straight away, letting the first years open their texts and get set up as best they could.
She nearly jogged to the Potions classroom, wanting to make the best use of their time as she could, and entered it with barely a greeting to the Potions Master, who was sitting at his desk as usual. Two fourth-year Hufflepuffs were standing and chopping dung beetles, clearly serving detention.
"Miss Black," Snape said, raising an eyebrow as she started to raid his stores without an explanation first.
"Tutoring," she said, and he nodded in acknowledgment. He watched closely, obviously taking inventory of what she was pulling out.
"Which first-year dunderhead?" he drawled, sounding rather uninterested, as he had deduced she was pulling what she needed to make a boil cure elixir.
"Granger, Longbottom, Weasley, and Potter," she said and started to speed towards the door again, wanting to get this done so she wouldn't be keeping the young students up too late.
"Watch them carefully!" he warned sharply. "Longbottom nearly melted off his skin on Friday."
"Good to know," Cassie said, hurrying out the door, and she knew who she'd be making take the lead. She had it planned in her head, was focused on what she was going to be doing next, when she felt a familiar tug on her mind's edge; it made her skid to a halt, and she almost dropped her jar of snake fangs. Almost as quickly as she had felt it, she made the conscious effort to clear her thoughts and picture the door to her head slam shut, rather than wait for the intrusion to stop on its own.
She didn't feel another attempt after that, and as she looked around fervidly, she saw no one except for a pair of Slytherin fifth year girls walking the opposite direction, appearing to be deep in conversation. Cassie briefly considered telling Snape straight away, but she figured there was not much else there could be done at the moment, other than keeping the mental assailant out. She made her way back to the library, her potions ingredients still in hand.
"Alright!" she said cheerfully, setting the contents in her arms down, and lit a fire under the cauldron with a flick of her wand. "Whoever did the worst on Friday will be taking the lead on this," she said, knowing who that someone would be, and she had to stifle a laugh when the other three students all simultaneously pointed to Neville.
Just as she predicted, the young wizard did just fine when not in the presence of the menacing Professor Snape. Cassie complimented him every step of the way, and with the encouragement of his fellow Gryffindors, he made a perfect boil cure. Cassie was feeling rather happy for the boy and had the four students settled into the desks to work on Muggle Studies essays when her cousin and his entourage strolled in. She hoped he'd go over to Quartermaine, who had just dismissed the student he had just been working with, but she wasn't surprised at all when he came up to her desk instead, where she had pulled out her own homework.
"Draco," she said, not bothering to close her textbook as she greeted him. "What can I do for you?"
"Hello, cousin," he said with an air of smugness, and she already wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. She didn't know what the attitude he was sporting was for, but she was ready to change it for him, and quickly. "I've got some homework for you to do. Charms essay, two feet of parchment, and Muggle Studies - "
"I'm going to stop you right there," Cassie said, sitting straight up in her seat. "I don't do homework for you, Draco. I'm a tutor. I give you help if you need it. There's a difference."
"That's not what I've heard from the older students. You pay the right price, and the tutors will write it for you," Malfoy said, and he pulled galleons from his pocket, throwing them lazily on the desk in front of her.
"Draco," Cassie said sharply, pushing the coins back at him. "Do you see me doing any of these students' homework right now?"
Malfoy turned and looked at the Gryffindors at the desks, who were now all stopped in their writing and glaring at him. "Well, of course not, it's not like any of them can afford to pay for it, especially Weasley, he'd have to sell the robes off his back, of course, that would never be enough." Crabbe and Goyle started to guffaw stupidly. "He'd have to sell Potter's, plus Potter's glasses, and maybe his stupid prefect brother's badge - "
Cassie had her wand underneath the desk and lightly flicked it. The movement went unnoticed by all of the students in the room, but what they did notice was the loud ripping noise as Malfoy's pants split open on his ass; Cassie was thrilled that it was after hours and he had ditched his robes for the day, giving her this grand opportunity. His hands immediately went to the torn fabric to cover the exposed fabric underneath, which today was bright white underwear.
"Mend it!" Draco yelled at her as every student in the room except for Crabbe and Goyle began to laugh at him.
"You don't have enough galleons," she sneered, and Malfoy, who was arrogant but not stupid enough to think he could convince Quartermaine to help him right then either, fled the room.
As Cassie correctly predicted, she heard about the incident from Snape the next day, that she shouldn't bully her cousin, nor should she be showing favoritism to the Gryffindors over her own house; it was an argument the two had had many times over her school career, the issue of her house pride. And then days later, she had a howler from Lucius over breakfast, imploring her to do right by her cousin and stop bringing shame to the family. It pissed her off and dampened her mood, as her week had been going quite well up until that point, short of pining over the Head of Slytherin.
Cassie was thrilled when she learned of Potter being made seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, not because she really cared about the sport, but because it made Malfoy so, so angry. She had heard what he had done to Longbottom during their first flying lesson, and karma had given him the justice he deserved without Cassie having to intervene. It was a sweet victory in her mind. She just wished she could knock some vanity out of him permanently before it ruined him, but she knew it probably couldn't be helped at this point. She hated it.
She expressed these concerns to Snape a few weeks later, and he didn't express agreement or disagreement. He merely took a sip of tea and kept grading papers. It was a Saturday night, the first one of October, and they had fallen back into their somewhat familiar routine from the last school year, just being in each other's company and not doing anything of particular importance in his office. The only part that was different this year, was that Cassie kept pushing naughty thoughts out of her mind.
Tonight was even a little bit different, though. The previous night she hadn't even dreamed of him in a sexual nature; it had just been of the two of them cuddling and hugging, and now she was just picturing the two of them doing just that. She wondered what his reaction would be if she would get up right now, walk behind his desk, and wrap her arms around his broad shoulders, maybe bend down so she could nuzzle her face into his neck and hair and take in his scent -
"What?" she said, slightly startled, as she realized just then that he had been speaking to her.
He raised an eyebrow at her, as if to ask her, how dare she make him repeat himself, but he did just that. "If you would care to pay attention, I said that if the boy is anything like his father, then he's a lost cause."
Cassie nodded. "Oh. Yes."
Snape sighed, as if he were perturbed by the entire conversation, and went back to scratching on papers for a few moments before Cassie spoke again.
"Severus?"
"Hmm."
"If that's how you feel about the Malfoys, then why do you work so hard to stay on their good side?"
"I don't."
Cassie snorted then, and Snape stopped what he was writing so he could look up at her and glare. "You don't? Well, pardon me. I must have been confused for my entire life."
"Don't talk about what you don't understand, you stupid girl."
There it was. She had hit a nerve, but then she knew she was on the right track. Now, her curiosity was peaked. "Why not just tell Lucius to fuck off? We both know you want to. He's a fucking pustule. You're so much better than him!"
"I'd ask you the same - " Snape started, and Cassie could sense him going into defensive mode, as the tension in the room grew palpable.
"Ha! You know I have told him to fuck off! Over and over!" she exclaimed, standing up, feeling heated herself now. "The only reason I was with the Malfoys this summer is that it would have been awkward with the Weasleys, having been broken up with Charlie and all, and Aunt Dromeda won't have me for more than a few days at a time of course, because god forbid it draws too much negative attention to the family," she said, and she was pacing now, growing frustrated at her lack of a home life. "Do you know what Lucius told me this summer? Do you?"
"No," said his low voice, his black eyes locked on her every move as she walked back and forth in front of him.
"No, because I didn't tell you," she said, her words coming out faster and faster as she went, "He told me, Severus, that if I wanted to start an uprising, he'd fund it, back me up. He reminded me, once again, that if I wanted to be the next Lord freaking Voldemort, that he'd be my fucking campaign manager! What a thrilling summer that was! And this creep has got his hand up the Minister's ass!"
"Why are you just saying this now?"
"Because it never does any good, does it?" she said, shaking her head. "That man has so many political ties, so many ways of protecting himself, the slimy git. No one can ever touch him. But you know that. So I'm going to ask you again, knowing what you know, Severus. Why don't you just tell him to fuck off?"
"Because the next time your father comes to power, I plan to spy. I have to play the part."
Cassie suddenly stopped pacing, coming to stand in front of Snape's desk and slamming her hands on his desk. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because that's how I'll be most valuable when the time comes," he said quietly, and Cassie was shaking her head again.
"What if he never comes back? You're just going to keep 'playing the part'?"
"Yes."
"That sounds incredibly dangerous!"
"Being in any part of a war is dangerous, Cassie." He stacked the parchment he had been grading neatly and stood up, going to place it on a shelf and retrieve the next pile. Cassie was silent, lost in her thoughts for a few moments as the wizard moved about the room.
"Severus?" she asked, still learning forward onto the desk as she spoke. "What about you?"
"What?"
"Why didn't I just stay with you this summer?" she asked, and she stood up straight, folding her arms over her chest. "That would have been nice, wouldn't it?" Snape was still turned towards one of his shelves, and Cassie came to stand behind his desk, not sure why she was going there instead of staying where she was. When he turned around, he had likely intended to go back to his desk to sit back down, but saw her right by his chair. He stopped short.
"I think we would have killed each other in a week," he said evenly. "And besides that, it would have been inappropriate."
Cassie bit the corner of her bottom lip, and she saw his eyes flit down to her mouth, only for a moment. Maybe she had imagined it. "I'm seventeen. I'm of age. Why would it have been inappropriate?"
"Because you're a student and I'm your teacher, Cassie," he said slowly. "People would have...inferred something."
"Oh, what people?" she said, smiling. "My nonexistent parents?" He didn't respond, and was looking at her so apprehensively that she almost felt bad for doing something as innocent as standing behind his desk rather than in front of it. But then again, the simple act was making her own heart pound wildly in her chest, so how innocent could her intentions be?
Cassie took one step towards him, then another. Her arms were still folded in front of her chest as she went, but her blue eyes were locked on his. He looked like he was holding his breath, but then again, she wasn't sure if she was breathing, either. She took another step, and then she was standing so close to him that she had to bend her neck back just to maintain eye contact with him.
She reached an arm out and slowly took the stack of parchment from him, tossing them onto the desk so they were out of the way.
"Miss Black," Snape said then, his voice almost a whisper, "what are you doing?"
"I don't know," she said truthfully, and then she was standing on her tiptoes, reaching out an arm and wrapping it behind his neck. Before she had time to worry about what was happening, she felt a large hand on the side of her face and in her hair, reciprocating her own motions, and their lips came together. It was like fireworks, every molecule of her body feeling like it was about to explode, having her countless dreams becoming reality like this.
Their lips remained pressed together for a few seconds, and then they started to move in sync with a need that was shared mutually between the two of them. Cassie could feel a familiar tightness in her belly and a pulsating in her groin begin, and soon she was running her tongue across her professor's lips for more contact. When he realized that she was asking for more, he complied, his tongue crashing into hers, and a growl erupted from deep within his throat as he suddenly turned and pressed her into the desk.
No stranger to physical intimacy, Cassie was about to start losing articles of clothing, when their progression suddenly halted. Snape was still on top of her, his weight keeping her on the desk, when he said, "This has to stop!" and his roaming hands were off of her.
"Severus, what?" she asked, absolutely at a loss as the Potions Master pulled away from her and stood up. He was still facing her, but backing away like she had stung him.
"No. We can't, Cassie."
"Yes, we can, Severus, what in the world - "
"You need to leave. Now!" he shouted, and Cassie was nearly in tears as she straightened out her disheveled clothing and quickly walked around the desk. Her wounded pride kept her from arguing as she normally would, and she left him without another word.
What she didn't know, was that when she had tossed the stack of essays aside, the name 'Potter' had been visible on one of them. It had stirred up ancient memories of a red-haired, emerald-eyed girl, and had made him feel so guilty that he couldn't possibly let himself be happy at that moment with Cassie.
The next weeks were miserable for Cassie. What she had feared had come to fruition, and after that Saturday night in Snape's office, it seemed she had lost him. He had never offered her an explanation for why he had suddenly changed his mind after they had started kissing, and now it seemed he was attempting to avoid her altogether, short of minimally interacting in class. In an act of desperation, she had even purposefully screwed up a potion just to have a reason to have him keep her after class or give her detention, and he hadn't even taken the bait then, choosing instead to send her to Professor Flitwick for punishment.
She tried to spend more time with Alpit and Juniper, although she found their worries about grades quite trivial, and she found that she was losing her temper quite easily with them. She wanted so desperately to speak with Tonks, but hadn't gotten a response from her first letter yet, and knew that was fruitless. And Charlie's letter, though pleasant, and been incredibly formal and full of pleasantries, and Cassie was convinced that he had only sent it to her after being guilt-tripped by Molly. She'd never felt more alone than she did right now. Finding that her favorite time of the week was now during her tutoring lessons with first years, Cassie was becoming increasingly disgusted with herself and her situation. She was starting to wish that the school would be done so she could graduate and be away from Hogwarts.
Cassie had one little glimmer of excitement coming up, as the first scheduled Hogsmeade trip was to be taking place soon. She had been there countless times over the years and wasn't expecting anything new there, but she was welcoming the change of pace and a chance to get off the grounds for an afternoon. At this point, she was more than willing to go by herself and just meander around, but was happy when Quartermaine offered to accompany her. They hadn't spent much time together outside of their tutoring sessions, so she was a bit curious to get to know him a bit further.
The Saturday of the trip was a cold one, and snow was coming down slowly in large, fluffy flakes. Cassie and Theodore went to the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer, and Cassie learned all about his upbringing. His mother was a Muggle, his father a half-blood. He had a younger sister in Ravenclaw and a younger brother, a Squib. He was aspiring to be a journalist for the Daily Prophet. He was nice, not particularly funny or interesting, but Cassie appreciated his company.
They browsed at Zonko's and ended up in front of the Shrieking Shack, because Cassie had noticed that the Weasley twins were there setting off a particularly large load of horse-shaped firecrackers that were now galloping down the street and causing some chaos for the Hogwarts students and residents alike. After Cassie had told them to go and round up their escaped Zonko's products, she found herself alone with Theodore, and then the street seemed eerily quiet.
"We should head back," Cassie said, rubbing her gloved hands together. "Getting dark soon."
"Yeah," Theodore agreed, and they started back towards the center of the village, when a man seemed to step out from the middle of nowhere. Cassie didn't know why, but she didn't have a good feeling from the start, with the man's determined look on his face, and his cruel, beady eyes.
"You'll stop right there, you will," the man said, pulling out his wand. To the right of Cassie and Theodore, a woman appeared. Then, another beside her. Another man behind them. They were surrounded. The street was deserted except for the four newcomers, and Cassie and Theodore.
"We were just heading back to Hogwarts," Cassie said, narrowing her eyes as she turned her head to take in the location of all four of them. Theodore looked like he was frozen stiff. "Students, you see."
"We can't let you go back there," one of the witches said, and Cassie ever so slowly inched her hand towards her wand.
"Yeah? And why's that?" Cassie asked, wondering if she should strike first, if Theodore would be useful in a duel or would just get himself hurt.
"Because we've got to protect the Boy Who Lived."
And there it was. Cassie couldn't pretend like she was surprised. Nonetheless, she had zero patience to begin with as of late, her nerves had been so on edge.
"Theodore," she said calmly, but firmly, "Get out of here. Now."
The Hufflepuff looked at her grimly, his face drained of all color. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
"Listen to her, boy. We don't have any issue with you," said one of the wizards, and Theodore took off running towards the heart of the village. Cassie breathed a sigh of relief, as at least he was out of danger now. She felt her heart thud hard, but slow and even, in her chest. In the time it took for her attackers to allow Theodore to escape, she had been able to grip her wand.
Even though she had been on edge for the last few weeks and her emotions drained, she was calm at this moment, because this, she was born to do.
She knew she could have taken them down in a matter of seconds, assuming they were your average witches and wizards. One, two, three, four, as fast as you could count them. That wouldn't have been a problem. But these weren't Death Eaters. They were citizens of the magical community, thinking they were doing the right thing. They were probably parents of the students she went to Hogwarts with. So she had to stay subdued, wait for their first move.
And move first they did.
Cassie let out a grunt of pain when the first witch with the red hair yelled, "Diffindo!" and it sliced open just below her collar bone and onto her chest. She staggered a bit, pressing her free hand to the gash and pulling it away, seeing her blood staining her glove. Instantly, she was on higher alert, and one of the wizards yelled, "Incendio!"
Cassie deflected it with ease, and the second witch attempted to ignite her with the same rudimentary spell. Skilled, this bunch was not, but it didn't take long for Cassie to realize, they weren't just trying to stop her from going back to Hogwarts, they were trying to kill her.
Turning on her heel, looking like a whirl of black robes and hair as she blocked spell after spell, Cassie kept them at bay as the foursome continued to attempt to slice, burn and scald her; as their courage grew, so did her rage. Finally, when she heard one of the wizards yell, "Crucio!" did something inside of her snap; after deflecting it, she let out a bellow of indignation, pointing her wand towards the ground and driving it downwards, sending a shock wave that knocked all four of them off their feet in an instant. Three of them weren't moving, and Cassie was satisfied to see that the one that attempted to use the Unforgivable on her still was. Still lying on his stomach on the ground, he pointed his wand up at her feebly, saying, "Avad - Avada - "
Cassie shot out her free arm and made a fist, dragging the wizard to his feet, an invisible force around his neck choking him as she yanked him towards her. The look of fear on his features made her feel immensely satisfied.
"No, no, you have to mean it," she said, echoing words that her father had told her when she was six. The wizard was right in front of her now, and she raised her wand. She wasn't even sure what she was going to do to him, but now he was turning blue, and all she knew was that she was so incredibly angry that they were going to kill her, and for what? For existing?
"CASSIE! STOP!" came a voice, and Cassie turned to see professors McGonagall, Quirrell, and Sprout running towards her. The sight of familiar faces seemed to pull her out of her rage, and she unclenched her first, letting the man fall to the ground in a heap.
"What happened?!" McGonagall shrieked, "The blood?" and Cassie looked down to see that her own blood had pooled around her feet. She opened her mouth to tell them that she and Theodore had been ambushed, that she had been attacked, when suddenly the world around her was turning black, and she fell the ground in a heap, as well.