chapter 05 / the past unveils

                             THE GRYFFINDORS IMMEDIATELY BROKE INTO PANICKED WHISPERS, but Professor Dumbledore swiftly ordered them back down to the Great Hall. Harry and Cassie crept behind, lingering along with the professors, hoping to get even a pinch of information from Dumbledore or Mcgonagall. Their plan was foiled the moment Mcgonagall's sharp eyes landed on the pair.

     "No, I'm afraid we professors must deal with this!" she said, in a much more frantic voice than Cassie thought she intended. "Please, down to the Great Hall with the rest of your friends—"

   Cassie raised her voice to match Mcgonagall's urgent to e. "But, Professor, please—"

     "Down!"

     Reluctantly, Harry and Cassie nodded their heads and followed the rest of the Gryffindors to the Great Hall; where they were soon joined by the Hufflepuffs, then the Ravenclaws, and lastly, the Slytherins. A familiar mop of messy brown hair caught Cassie's attention, and she slipped away from Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

     "Atticus!" she called, and the Ravenclaw turned his head. Despite all the hubbub going on, he still wore an exuberant grin on his face when he saw her.

     "Why, hello," he greeted with a nod, moving to sit on a padded cushion by the wall. "Alright there, Cassidy?"

     "Never better," she said, taking a seat next to him. She pursed her lips, then allowed her eyes to travel over to her friends. "I'm a bit.. worried about Harry. He seems stressed, especially with the dementors."

     Atticus pondered her worries for a moment, warm brown eyes squinted in thought. He hummed and nodded. "Well, I won't lie to you and say that we shouldn't worry because we're in the safest place in the entire Wizarding world—quite an ill-timed claim, that would be, seeing as we've just narrowly been broken into by a mass-murderer.."

     A joking smile pulled at his lips, and paired with the way he nudged Cassie's shoulder brought an apprehensive simper to her face.

     "There's nothing to worry about," Atticus assured her. "My dad says Black's bound to get caught, especially now that they've spotted him. Can't be long now."

     "Yeah, I suppose you're right." Cassie frowned. "Would be nice to get to go to Hogsmeade with everyone else, I suppose."

   "Oh, bloody hell!" Atticus slammed his palm to his forehead, shaking his head in disappointment. He turned to face Cassie fully. She did the same, curious. "I completely forgot; the other day, Ced and I heard the Weasley twins talking about a.. map, of sorts. It shows you where everyone in the castle is at all times. It's bloody brilliant, and I wish I could thank the makers, but nobody knows who they are. You should ask the twins about it—bet it'd make sneaking into Hogsmeade a walk in the park."

     "Brilluant!" Cassie replied, grinning. "I'll go talk to Harry about it, then. Try not to get murdered while I'm gone, yeah?"

     "I'll try my very best for you," Atticus replied solemnly, putting a hand over his heart. "As long as you don't get killed, either."

     "I promise I won't," she agreed seriously, before breaking out into a grin and laughing as she walked away. "Harry!" she called, just as their prefect, Percy, began shouting at the Gryffindors.

     "Lights are going out now! I want everyone in their sleeping bags, and no more talking!"

     The candles went out at once. Cassie cursed, her chance to talk to Harry diminished as quickly as the flames on the candles. The only light was coming from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about and talking seriously to the prefects; and the enchanted ceiling, which was scattered with stars.

     Cassie laid on her back in her sleeping bag next to Harry. She didn't close her eyes, just kept her gaze on the stars. "Harry?" she whispered riskily after a moment. He replied with a small hum. "There's a constellation called Sirius. Wonder if Black's named after it."

     "Probably. Where else does the name Sirius come from?"

     "Maybe they expected him to be a very serious child."

     "Instead they got a murderer."

     "Shame," Cassie said, though her whisper was void of emotion.

     A quiet snicker came from her left, and Harry's sleeping back trembled with suppressed laughter. He turned to his side to face her. "Do you know a lot about constellations?"

     She followed his lead. Their faces were inches from each other. She stared into his brilliantly green eyes, momentarily falling into distraction, before she shook it off and returned her attention to his question. She lifted her open shoulder in a shrug. "I mean, they've always interested me, I guess... sort of, yeah, I've looked into them. Why?"

     Harry frowned and shook his head. "Nothing. You're just.. brilliant at Astrology. Way better than me."

     "Oh." Cassie felt a warmth behind her cheeks. "Thanks."

     He replied with a small smile, before his eyes drifted back up to the ceiling. Cassie kept watching him, her face growing solemn, gaze soft. Harry's jaw twitched.

     "He's coming after me," he said after a moment, his voice somehow softer than before and almost inaudible. "It's what Mr. Weasley told me."

     "Oh, come off it, Harry," she said, but her voice held no hostility to it. "He won't be able to get to you. I swear it. I bet those dementors will catch him first – they're itching for a chance to give him a Kiss."

     "Kiss?" Harry asked incredulously and much too loud; to which Cassie hushed him and glanced around to see if he'd drawn the attention of any passing teachers.

     "Yes, a Kiss," she replied after a beat. "I heard some professors talking about it when I was in the library today. It's when the dementors suck the soul out of someone. It's.. it's horrible, really. The person loses all sense of themself, they're practically a walking shadow. But it's what Black deserves."

     Harry's lips parted, his voice inching out to whisper a reply, but the great oak doors of the hall burst open and Dumbledore swept inside.

     "Any sign of him, Professor?" Percy asked hurriedly as the headmaster walked over.

     Dumbledore shook his head slightly, his silver beard swaying. "No. All well here?"

     Percy gave a curt nod. "Everything under control, sir."

     "Good. There's no point in moving them all now." Dumbledore let out a raspy hum. "I've found a... temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You'll be able to move them back in tomorrow."

     "And the Fat Lady?"

     Dumbledore waved a hand dismissively. "She's alright. I found her hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently, she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She's still very distressed, but once she's calmed down, I'll have Mr. Filch restore her."

     Footsteps were sounded as though Dumbledore was exiting the Hall, but then the pattern paused, and he returned. "Minerva," he said in a whisper, and Cassie assumed the woman had been standing silent the whole time. "Have you see Professor Lupin?"

     Cassie felt her heart skip a beat.

     She pictured Mcgonagall shaking her head tightly. "No, sir. He didn't come to the Great Hall once tonight," she answered. Cassie had to fight from sitting up and bombarding Dumbledore with questions.

     "This might be what I was afraid of," Dumbledore said slowly, and Cassie heard his voice grow louder as though he was walking over to where she and Harry 'slept'.

     "Oh, but sir, you don't think.." Mcgonagall began, a sort of shock to her voice. "I knew they were friends in school, but helping a mass murderer into the castle? Where both his daughter and his best friends' child live?"

     Cassie, facing Harry's back, kept her eyes wide open. She was hoping he hadn't dozed off. When she saw him flinch slightly, she knew he hadn't. It wasn't big, but it was enough for her to know he was listening, too.

     "I'm afraid it is a possibility," said Dumbledore after a heavy pause, and Cassie could almost hear the frown in his voice. "I shall search once more, for both Black and Lupin, and tell you what I find. Thank you, Minerva."

     Two pairs of footsteps retreated. Once they were far enough away, Harry turned again so he was facing Cassie. They stared at each other in silent shock.

     When Cassie spoke, her voice was small and meek. She gazed at Harry for help. "Did... did my dad help Sirius Black break into the castle?"

                              SIRIUS BLACK WAS THE TALK OF THE SCHOOL FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. The theories about him were growing wilder and wilder; Hannah Abbott spent much of the joint Hufflepuff-Gryffindor Herbology lesson telling anyone who would listen that Black could turn into a flowering shrub and had somehow used that to his advantage to break in.

     The ripped portrait of the Fat Lady had been temporarily replaced, as Dumbledore had promised, but it was by none other than one Sir Cadogan and his grey steed. Nobody was very happy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords (which changed at least twice a day).

     Cassie hadn't seen her father much, in the immediate days. He seemed quite tired during the more recent lessons, but Cassie just assumed it was due to the looming full moon, which always cast a damper on his energy. Almost by extension, Cassie grew exhausted, spending more nights awake than she did sleeping.

     It wasn't long before her lack of rest began to catch up with her, and she had to fight to keep her head up at the lunch table.

     "How nervous are you, Harry, on a scale from one to ten?" asked a peevish little blond boy—Colin, Cassie was sure was his name. "Scale of one to ten, Harry!"

     Harry grit his teeth before replying. "Four, Colin, and I'll be even more nervous if I don't get a good breakfast due to your questions," Harry replied, and Colin snapped a picture before rushing off to the other end of the table. Harry drew in a shaky breath to keep from exploding. Ron held back a laugh.

   "At least we aren't playing Slytherin for this match!" one of the twins said happily as he took a seat next to Ron, and the other twin next to him.

     "Why is that such a good thing?" Cassie asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. "I thought we were supposed to be against them this week."

     "Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's still injured," Fred replied, and all of the Gryffindors rolled their eyes, "but it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather; think it'll damage their chances."

     "Who are you playing, then?" asked Hermione, who appeared from nowhere.

     Ron spluttered into his pumpkin juice. "Blimey, Hermione, at least give a guy a warning before you pop out of thin air," he muttered, turning back to his food.

     "Hufflepuff," answered Fred and George to Hermione at the same time. Cassie grinned, and they shifted their gazes to her. George narrowed his eyes. "Please share, Lupin, what on earth you're so smiley for?"

     "You're playing Cedric!" she beamed, and they all shared a glance. "You know.. the Hufflepuff Seeker?"

     "Yeah, we know," George said, and everybody turned their heads to the Hufflepuff table. Cedric turned and waved to them. Cassie was the only one who waved back. "He's brilliant on a broom. Better than last year's Seeker, no doubt. It's gonna be difficult."

     "Well, I'm not taking sides," Cassie decided, earning a sputter of disbelief from all of the boys. "What? He's my friend."

     "And this is your house, Cassie; you have to choose this side!" Harry exclaimed.

     "Who says?" She popped a grape in her mouth nonchalantly.

     "WE SAYS!" Fred and George cried, whilst Harry and Ron shook their heads hopelessly. Hermione gave Cassie an apologetic look, but the Lupin girl already stood and had her eyes on the table at the front of the room. Her dad had just entered and taken his seat, and she intended on speaking to him, whether it be now or later.

     "If you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my dad," she said over Fred and George's fake sobs. Harry looked at Cassie, concerned, but she shook her head as if to say 'not now', and walked towards the professor's table.

     She walked directly up to her father, waving half-heartedly at Hagrid as he greeted her, and stood in front of Remus with her arms crossed. He looked up and raised an eyebrow.

     "Well?" she asked after a moment. "Are you gonna spill, or not?"

     "Spill what, Cassie?" He asked, setting down his fork and sitting up straighter.

   "Did you—"

   "Oh, dear!" Remus had spilled his goblet all over his front, some sort of red juice seeping into his clothes that looked a bit too much like blood. Cassie had a sneaking suspicion he'd done it on purpose. "Cassie, if you'd be so kind as to come with me, I need to change out of this—"

   She shook her head and said, "You know, you're a wizard; can't you just—"

     "Come with me," he urged again, and Cassie fell silent. The two walked rather quickly out of the Great Hall. She continuously asked questions as they paced down the hallway, but Remus remained silent all the way until they reached his classroom. He swiftly shut the door behind them and swiveled to face Cassie.

     "What have you heard?" he asked, leaning against his desk. She blinked at him, before closing her mouth and clearing her throat.

     "Um.. I may... have heard.." she began, piecing her words together carefully. "That you and Sirius Black were friends in school."

     Remus sighed, and smiled a sad smile. "That we were. We were quite the group, actually, in our school years. Your mother, James, Lily, Sirius, and I," he said fondly. "Your mother's sister, too."

     "Mum had a sister?" Cassie asked, now completely oblivious to what she'd been meaning to talk to him about. She shook her head, leaning in curiously. "What were they like?"

     "Well," Remus began, thinking very hard. It was now his turn to tread carefully on his words. "Your mother was quite the cherry bomb of the school. Never knew what was coming with her. Angelica – she was practically the exact opposite."

     A small smile was forming on Remus's lips at the memories of his old friends. "Angelica was.. well, I dare say she was our Hermione. She was very detail oriented, unlike Adelaide. Addie liked chaos, making people laugh, being a joker. Almost like your friends Fred and George, yet not half as bad as them."

     "Did all of you go here? Why didn't you say anything?"

     "Oh, it just never came up, I suppose. We were all in Gryffindor, except your mother and Angelica; Adelaide was a Slytherin, Angelica was a Ravenclaw."

     "Isn't Slytherin the evil house?" she asked apprehensively. "That's what I've heard."

     Remus scoffed. "Oh, no. Don't go believing rumors like that. Just because a few bad wizards come from Slytherin does not make all Slytherins bad. Your mother was the best witch I've ever met."

     "What happened to her?" Cassie asked softly, fiddling with her fingers.

     Remus faltered. The words in his throat caught and he paused, staring down at Cassie, his eyes sad.

     "I don't know," he replied, truthfully. "I wish I knew. I wish as much as you do that she could still be here."

     A few moments later, a dejected Cassie left her father's classroom with a billion more questions than what she'd gone into it with.