chapter thirteen / a professors' quarrel

The safety measures imposed on the students since Black's second break-in had made it impossible for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cassie to visit Hagrid in the evenings. Their only chance of talking to him was during Care of Magical Creatures. Even then, he seemed numb with shock at the verdict.

"S'all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up for me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em..."

"There's still the appeal! Don't give up yet, Hagrid. We're working on it," Ron said with an encouraging smile.

They were walking back up to the castle with the rest of the class. Ahead they could see Malfoy, who was walking with Crabbe and Goyle, and kept looking back and laughing derisively.

"S'no good, Ron," said Hagrid sadly. "That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that..."

Hagrid turned around and hurried back to his cabin, his face buried in his handkerchief.

"Did you see him blubber?" roared Malfoy in laughter from the door where he'd been listening. "Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic? And he's supposed to be our teacher!"

Harry and Ron both made furious moves towards Malfoy, but Cassie put her hands on their shoulders. She was too slow to stop Hermione, and the girl punched Malfoy right across the jaw. Harry, Ron, Cassie, Crabbe, and Goyle stood there, completely flabbergasted.

"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you little cockroach!" she shrieked, pointing her wand at Malfoy's face.

"Hermione, no..." Cassie said, though it was quite unenthusiastic. "You can't..."

"Come on," Malfoy's voice wavered. Him and his crones stalked off towards the dungeons. They were only gone for a fraction of a second before Cassie burst into laughter. Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined in as well, all four of them clutching their stomachs.

"Second time he's been decked! In a week!"

"They call this a holiday?" Seamus Finnegan exclaimed angrily to the common room, his voice carrying loudly over the chattering of panicked students. It was packed with Gryffindors, every one of them studying multiple subjects at a time, but none had it as bad as Hermione. "Exams are ages away, what're they playing at?"

Ron had taken over the responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal. When he wasn't doing his own work, he was poring over ridiculously thick volumes like The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology and Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality. He was so absorbed, he forgot to be horrible to Crookshanks.

Harry had to fit in his homework around every-day Quidditch practice – not to mention endless discussions of tactics with Wood. The Gryffindor-Slytherin match would take place on the first Saturday after the Easter holidays. Slytherin was leading the tournament by exactly two hundred points. This meant, as Wood constantly reminded his team, that they needed to win by more than that amount to win the Cup. It also meant that the burden of winning fell largely on Harry.

"– so you must catch it only if we're more than fifty points up, Harry, or we win the match but lose the Cup. You've got that, haven't you? You must catch the Snitch only if we're–"

"I think he gets it, Oliver," Cassie said quickly at the growing look of anger on Harry's face. Oliver sent Harry a worried look before stalking off to the twins and Angelina. Harry mumbled a thank you to Cassie, before returning to his work.

Never, in anyone's memory, had a match approached in such a highly charged atmosphere. By the time the holidays were over, tension between the two teams and their Houses was at a breaking point. A number of small scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nasty incident in which a Gryffindor fourth year and a Slytherin sixth year ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.

All the usual pursuits were abandoned in the Gryffindor common room the night before the match. Even Hermione had put aside her books.

"I can't work. I can't concentrate," she said nervously.

There was, truthfully, a great deal of noise. Fred and George were dealing with pressure by being louder and more flamboyant than ever. Oliver was crouched over a model of a Quidditch field in the corner, prodding little figures across it with his wand and muttering to himself. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were laughing at Fred and George's jokes quite loudly. Harry was sitting with Ron, Hermione, and Cassie, removed from the center of things.

"You'll be fine, Harry. You're a great Seeker," Cassie told him soothingly, earning a nod of agreement from both Hermione and Ron.

"You've got a Firebolt!"

"Yeah.." Harry said, quite unenthusiastically. His head snapped up as Wood stood and shouted, "Team! Bed!"

The Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff tables applauded Harry as he entered the Great Hall with Cassie that morning. The Slytherins only hissed, but Cassie noticed Malfoy seemed paler than usual.

Wood urged Harry every minute to eat something, but Harry just stared at his packed plate blankly. After nearly ten minutes, Oliver ushered them out to the pitch to get an idea of the conditions.

"Good luck, Harry!" A Ravenclaw, Cho, called out. Cassie couldn't help the puddle of jealousy she felt at Harry's red cheeks.

Almost an hour later, Cassie sat in the Gryffindor stands with Ron and Hermione at her sides. She peered around, anxious to get a good look at Harry before he kicked off, but the teams were still in their locker rooms.

"Captains! Shake hands!" Hooch called as the two teams entered the pitch. Even from her high point, Cassie could see how hard they were gripping each other's hand.

The sound of Madam Hooch's whistle was lost in the roar of the crowd as fourteen brooms rose into the air.

"Gryffindor in possession, Spinnet of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, headed straight for the Slytherin goalposts, looking good, Alicia! Ah, no – Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the field – WHAM! – nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina – nice swerve around Montague – duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger! – SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Angelina punched her fist in the air as two thirds of the crowd exploded into cheers. She soared around the end of the field–

"OUCH!"

Angelina was nearly thrown from her broom as Flint went smashing into her.

"Sorry!" Flint shouted as the crowd below booed. "Sorry, didn't see her there!"

The malicious grin on his face said otherwise.

A moment later, Fred chucked his Beater's club at the back of Flint's head. Flint's nose smashed into the handle of his broom and began to bleed.

"That will do!" Madam Hooch shrieked, zooming between the two. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!"

"Oh, come off it, Miss!" Fred shouted, but Hooch blew her whistle and Alicia flew forward to take the penalty.

"Come on, Alicia," Lee said into the silence that had fallen. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Flint turned to take his penalty shot.

"Course, Wood's a superb Keeper!" Lee told the crowd. "Superb. Very difficult to pass – very difficult indeed – YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"

Lee continued shouting off the plays, and Cassie kept her eyes on Harry the whole time. He was soaring around, his green eyes narrowed as he searched the pitch. She knew he couldn't catch it yet – Gryffindor needed to be more than fifty points up.

"THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"

Montague, a Slytherin Chaser, had swerved in front of Katie and grabbed her head. Katie had swerved in the air, managed to stay on her broom, and dropped the Quaffle.

She scored another penalty shot.

"THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING–"

Mcgonagall cut him off and told him something stern.

"I'm just telling it like it is, Professor!"

Cassie put a hand on Ron's shoulder and squeezed, her unblinking eyes glued to Harry as he zoomed towards the Slytherin's end of the pitch. The two Beaters were closing in on him. Cassie gasped, but at the last second, Harry pulled upwards and the two Beaters collided.

In the chaos, Slytherin had made a goal. Cassie cursed at the same time as Lee Jordan. The score was now forty-ten.

Katie scored – fifty-ten. Fred and George circled her with their clubs raised in the air, in case any Slytherins were thinking of revenge. The Slytherin Beaters took advantage of the Gryffindor Beaters' absences and aimed both Bludgers at Wood; they both caught him in the stomach. Cassie winced.

Gryffindor earned another penalty – sixty-ten. Harry could catch the snitch now–

They scored again. Seventy-ten.

"C'mon, Harry, you've got it–" Cassie muttered, ignoring Ron's small whine of pain as she squeezed his arm.

Malfoy seized the Firebolt Harry was riding and was holding onto his for dear life, pulling it back. When Harry turned again, the Snitch was gone. Even Mcgonagall was shouting at Malfoy.

Seventy-twenty. Slytherin had scored.

Malfoy began diving down. Harry noticed just a split second later and soared after him. Cassie had never seen him so determined.

And then, in the blink of an eye, he'd caught the Snitch. The crowd exploded into cheers so loud, they couldn't hear Lee Jordan's announcement. Cassie, Hermione, and Ron shouted until their voice went raspy, stumbling down the stairs to meet Harry in the pitch, along with the entire rest of the crowd (save for the Slytherins, who were grumbling to themselves as they walked back to the castle).

Cho Chang reached Harry before the rest of the quartet and Cassie skidded to a stop, watching as she tackled him in a hug. Hermione and Ron tugged Cassie forward and the girl stumbled over to Harry, who immediately wrapped his arms around his three friends in a large hug. Ron and Hermione were congratulating him, but Cassie could do nothing but plaster a smile on her lips and nod her head enthusiastically.

"Hermione? Are you sure you've copied down these times right?" Ron asked hesitantly, sharing a frightened glance with the rest of the Gryffindors sitting around her at the lunch table.

"What?" Hermione snapped, ripping the paper from Ron's hands. "Yes, of course I have."

"Is there any point in asking how you're going to sit for two exams at once?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Hermione said shortly, and her tone of voice told them to drop it. "Have you all seems my copy of Numerology and Grammatica?"

"Yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of light reading," Ron snickered with Cassie, earning a glare from Hermione. She began shuffling parchments around on her desk furiously, but Harry and Cassie turned their attention to the window.

Hedwig and Cupid sat on the windowsill, both holding notes in their beaks.

"It's from Hagrid," Harry said after he'd ripped the note open. "Buckbeak's appeal is set for the sixth."

"That's when we finish our exams–" Hermione said distractedly, still looking for her book.

"They're coming up here to do it. Someone from the Ministry of Magic and – and an executioner."

Both Hermione, who'd shoved two stacks of parchments off her desk in searching for her book, and Cassie, who was beginning to open her letter, froze.

"They're bringing the executioner to the appeal! But that sounds as though they've already decided!"

"That's so unfair!" Cassie said angrily.

"They can't do that!" howled Ron. "I've spent ages reading up on stuff for him! They can't just ignore it all!"

Everyone returned to their tasks at hand after a moment. Cassie peeled back the opening of her letter and her stomach dropped at the name at the heading.

"I'll be right back," she muttered, not waiting for a reply before shuffling up the steps to her dorm room and drawing the curtains of her bed shut.

'Dear Cassiopeia,' it read. She drew in a tight breath, nervous to read the rest. It was in a neater handwriting than Sirius Black's – still messy, but neat-er.

I've been following the news on Padfoot. I'm still in partial shock he's broken out, but right now I'm just worried about you. I heard from Moony there was a break-in in the castle. Twice. He said you'd had a fright, and I can't imagine how scary it must've been, but remember that Padfoot would never do anything to harm you. Nevertheless, please stay safe and watch your back. I look forward to meeting you. –Snouts'

Cassie reread the note at least twelve times, trying to work out each word at a time. This person – Snouts – had called her Cassiopeia. Then, there were the nicknames – Moony, Padfoot, Snouts – Cassie gasped lightly as she remembered where she'd seen them; they were the names on the Marauder's Map. This letter had come from a Marauder, specifically 'Snouts'.

   She needed to check the Marauder's Map. She needed to break into her father's – well, godfather's (Merlin, that was going to take some getting used to) – office and find the Map. And she had to do it all without anyone knowing.

   She made sure to stash the letter in the very bottom of her trunk and cover it with her socks as to not have a repeat of what happened last time. For extra security, she locked her trunk and charmed it so it wouldn't open with Alohamora.

   What she really needed was Harry's Cloak, but that was still hidden under the one-eyed witch. No biggie, she could get it on her way.

   When Hermione and Lavender had retired to bed and Cassie was sure they were asleep, she tip-toed down the stairs (again, avoiding the creaky step) and dashed through the nearly empty common room. The Fat Lady took some convincing to keep quiet, but eventually did.

   It was quite dark in the castle, and Cassie knew there were teachers roaming around, so she tried her best to avoid the usual hallways they patrolled. When she reached the one-eyed witch, she tapped the base with her wand and muttered, 'Dissendio'. The witch opened and Harry's Cloak was sitting there. She grinned in victory and pulled it out, wrapping it around herself and walking towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

   She got to the classroom flawlessly with absolutely no problems on the way. She did, from under the Invisibility Cloak, see ... something ... happening in a portrait that she desperately wished she could Obliviate herself of, but all in all, was successful in getting there.

   The only problem was; Remus sat in his office, poring over the Map, eating a bar of chocolate. Cassie cursed under her breath and took a step back, evaluating her options. She didn't have long, as Snape brushed past her and into Remus's office.

   "We have a problem, Moony," he sneered the nickname as though it left a disgusting taste in his mouth, and Cassie almost froze upon hearing it. Remus brushed the Map to the side and Cassie silently thanked Snape, side-stepping the two men into his office. She had to be careful to avoid Snape as he waved his arms around.

   When the men were locked in a glaring contest, she took the chance and swiped the Map off the desk. Unfortunately, it knocked another few papers onto the floor, earning Snape's attention.

   "Who's there?" he snarled, drawing his wand. Cassie took a careful step back.

   "Nobody's there, Snape, please, calm yourself–"

   "I will not calm myself! And I will continue to push Dumbledore until he removes you from the premises, as it is ridiculously dangerous to have a werewolf teaching students Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

   "Oh, come off it! Get over your schoolboy crush on Lily–"

  "You DARE–"

   "And grow up, Snivellus!" Remus shouted. Cassie took the chance again and swerved past Snape and out of the office, not looking over her shoulder as she rushed back to the common room.

   Harry was awake when she returned. His head lifted as he heard the portrait open and Cassie froze, just a head floating in the air. Harry opened his mouth to ask a question but she ripped the Cloak off herself and began speaking before he could even take a breath.

   "Harry, I'm sorry I took your Cloak without asking, and I'm sorry I didn't let you know I was going to get the Map, and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the Map in the first place, and I'm sorry you're being chased down by Sirius Black, and I'm sorry both of our parents were friends with him, but I'm not sorry that I found out that our parents were the Marauders!"

   Harry gaped at her, blinking as he took in all of the information. "Um.. what?"

   "Your dad was friends with my mum and dad in school, right? Well... well, my dad was a Marauder!" she whispered, taking a seat next to Harry so she didn't have to talk across the room.

   "You're joking," he said, his eyes widening.

   "I'm not! My dad was Moony, but I still haven't figured out who the others were. I–" she began to tell him about the letter but abruptly stopped herself, slamming her mouth shut. He raised an eyebrow curiously. "I.. I still don't know what the nicknames mean."

   It was mostly a lie. Moony was probably something to do with Remus being a werewolf, and Cassie could only guess that the other nicknames had something to do with their owners, as opposed to being completely random.

   "Well.. that's brilliant, Cassie! How'd you find that out?" he asked, pulling the Map into his hands.

   "Er... I heard Snape call my dad Moony in his office."

   "Any idea what it means?"

   "Nope. None at all," she said flatly, biting the inside of her cheeks.

   "Well.. that must have been why the Map insulted Snape when he tried to read it."

   "Yeah.. yeah! You're right," Cassie agreed, furrowing her eyebrows in thought. "Merlin, Harry. .. wait, what are you doing up?"

   "Got thirsty. You?"

   "Had to get the Map and your Cloak. Sorry again," she said quickly, shoving his Cloak back into his lap.

   "It's no problem," he said, just as quickly, a small smile on his lips. Cassie returned it, scratching the back of her neck.

   The two teenagers stayed up in the common room the rest of the night, piecing together the strange puzzle that was their parents' past.