In Cassiopeia's defence it was funny, that was how she was telling the narrative to her friends on the hogwarts express. When she'd flung herself into the compartment of the young slytherins and Neville followed by her nephew, they all gasped in shock. Cassie had a giant cut from her temple stretched to the point of her jaw, it was still bleeding and it was clearly a fresh wound. Each of the gang started to talk over one another until Blaise stood from his seat.

"One at a time people, salazar sake my brain just nearly fell out" he exclaimed holding his head between his hands.

"Cass what on earth have you done to your face?" Neville inspected his friend with worried eyes.

"Oh here we go" Draco sighed and sat himself next to Neville giving the boy a small smile.

Cassie started telling her friends what had happened, how Hermione had owl'd and asked if she had any old history books on a certain alchemist. She had indeed remembered seeing a few when Draco was organising the shelves in the library, so the night before the train journey back too hogwarts she snuck into the library and 'borrowed' the ones she could find. When Draco and Cassie were getting ready to leave for kings cross Lucius had seen them sticking out of her bag and tried to take them from her. She used her short height to her advantage and dropped to the floor sliding between her brother-in-law's legs causing him to fall over, Lucius then proceeded to chase the girl around the manor before she strategically ran into the living room that Narcissa was setting up the floo in. She shouted for Draco to bring her things with him then grabbed a handful of powder from the pot on the table and jumped through shouting 'Kings cross station' as she threw the powder into the flames.

Of course Cassiopeia being Cassiopeia had anything but a smooth landing. The jump she started back at the manor had carried on through the floo, she sent herself flying across the room and went face first into the corner of a bench. A very sharp cornered bench. When Narcissa and Draco came through a minute later Cassie was sitting on said bench with a grin plastered across her face whilst blood trickled down it.

"Cassiopeia Black why must you be so horrible with him?" Narcissa asked her sister rhetorically while she tired to inspect the cut.

"Well big sister, your the one that married that moronic wanker" she flashed another grin and took Holstien and her trunk from draco, speeding off in the direction of the howarts express.

Cassie finished her retelling of the story and clapped her hands together. She wiped at the cut on her face and pulled blood covered fingertips away making a disgusted face at them. "Anyone got a plaster?" She looked around the compartment to all of her friends staring at her in awe besides draco who was bashing the back of his head against the wall and groaning.

"Come on lets go and see if the trolly witch has anything for it" Theo stood and took Cassies hand to drag her behind him.

"What good's she gonna be able to do?" Cassie scrunched her face up at the taller boy.

"Well love if she doesn't have a plaster of some sort, i can always buy myself a chocolate frog to make up for walking all the way down the train" He shook his head laughing slightly.

Cassie just shrugged and grabbed her bag from the floor. "We can find Hermione on the way i need to give her the books i very well nearly lost an eye for" She was now dragging Theo and he just smiled softly following after her.

Cassie and Theo found the trolley witch before they found Hermione, the old woman didn't have a plaster or bandage of any kind but she did have some wipes. Theo helped her wipe the blood away and held on to the back of her head when she wriggled about.

"Stay still or it'll hurt more" he gave her a strict look.

"Sorry mr medic" she joked with a smile on her face.

When all the blood was cleared Theo sighed and took a hold of one of her hands, inspecting them closely making cassie furrow her brows in confusion. "what exactly are you doing?"

"Well do these magic healing hands of yours only work on other people or..." Theo started, but was interrupted by Cassies gasp.

"Theodore Nott what would i do without you!" she grabbed his head and kissed the top of it, "i forgot i could do that"

"How on earth your passing your classes i'll never know, your brains like a sieve" he shook his head.

Cassiopeia cupped her face in her own hands and pictured what she wanted in her head, whispering the incantation to go along with it. A few moments later she was left with a faint scar down her face, Theo gave her a smile and told her it looked fine.

"Oh crap! does the Hogwarts express mean it's okay to do magic or am i going to be expelled" she stood with her mouth open looking around for someone coming to shout at her. They weren't going to come.

"Come on you let's get these books to Hermione" theo laughed and took the bag from her leaving her to follow him.

Hermione was overjoyed to see Cassie and even more grateful for the books, Theo and Cassie chatted with Hermione, the Patil twins and Lavender who were sharing a compartment. After about twenty minutes Cassie excused herself and Theo so they could go back to their own group.

Settling back into the routine at hogwarts was easier than cassie had expected, it felt like they hadn't had a break at all. Her training with Emmeline was going amazing and because she now had a way to release all the emotion she was bottling up, she found that it was making it easier to teach Draco and Pansy Legilimency. Draco was improving but he was better at blocking his mind than he was at digging in to others, Pansy had gotten the hang of it and felt the need to try and get into everyone's mind that she could. According to her it was good practice.

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As the weeks went on Cassiopeia and Neville started to spend a lot of time in the library due to the fact that Nevilles default settings was to panic. Exams would be on them before they knew it and Cassie was helping boost Nevilles confidence, he knew all the things that he ought to know but when it came down to it in the moment he'd panic and second guess himself often ending up with the wrong answer instead of trusting himself and getting the right answer. It was a Thursday afternoon and Cassie was quizzing her friend on different jinx's and hexes, their study session came to an abrupt stop when Pansy and Draco joined them.

"okay you two can settle this" pansy said as she sat down. "would you rather be able to turn any metal into pure gold, or have the elixir of life?" she rested her head on her fist and looked at them.

"I think i'd prefer to turn metal into gold" Neville looked slightly confused, "being alive forever must get exhausting, not to mention lonely" he nodded happy with his answer.

"See Pans i told you i was right!" Draco boasted and sent a smile to Neville.

"i have follow up questions" Cassie clasped her hands together. "the elixir, is it the type where you stay young forever or do you continue to age as you take the potion?" she questioned.

Draco tutted and looked at pansy, "it's your would you rather so you should know the answer"

"I don't know" Pansy tightened her lips.

"well then i'll go for metal into gold too, i don't want to be all wrinkled and withered." Cassie nodded.

"why that question anyway?" Neville asked the short haired girl.

"Oh, we were walking past Hermione and i was practicing you know" she nodded her head to Cassie not wanting to say it out loud even though Neville was aware of Cassies gift. "and the only thing she was thinking off was what i think might be a passage out of a book, something to do with the philosopher's stone" she shrugged.

"Will you pack it in" Cassie smacked Pansy's arm out from under her chin, "if you carry on just digging through innocent people's mind's then i'll stop teaching you" she said sternly but still had a smile on her face.

"yes boss" Pansy chuckled and put her head on cassies shoulder causing Draco to roll his eyes.

"Come on Nev let's leave the love birds too it, Dinner starts soon" Draco said as he helped pack away his things.

"oh piss off will you" Cassie through a quick tickling jinx across the table and grabbed Pansy's hand running off to the great hall leaving Neville to deal with Draco. She justified it by the fact that this would be good for Nevilles Defence against the dark arts skills.

Cassiopeia and Pansy were sitting at the slytherin table and had started to plate up food both severly out of breath and a little sweaty, Theo and Blaise were on the opposite side of the table eying them suspiciously. That is when Draco storms over looking all ruffled and put his hands on his hips looking at the girls.

Both cassie and Pansy kept their eyes on the table and cassie spoke out of the corner of her mouth to Pansy, "if we don't move, he won't see us. just be very still" she said.

"i hate both of you, do you know how many counter curses Nevilles just fired at me" Draco huffed and sat next to Blaise.

"Ohhhhh" Theo said like he'd had a revelation, "you were running for your lives, thats why your all sweaty"

Blaise burst out laughing and patted Draco on the back, "tough luck snowy, what did you get hit with then? please tell me it was the jelly legs jinx" he spoke then turned to Cassie, "your the best at them" he held out his fist to her and she quickly punched it with her own smiling.

"Tickling jinx." The blonde boy grumbled as he bit into a piece of beef.

"You go far to easy on him cass" theo shook his head not taking his eyes of Cassiopeia who was still smiling brightly.

"Technically it was just active learning" she boasted cutting up the food on her plate, "Neville and i were supposed to be going over counter curses before you two showed up"

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Cassiopeia loved spending time out on the Hogwarts grounds, especially since winter was on it's way out. She liked watching the different houses training on the Quidditch pitch from afar, though she had stopped watching the Gryffindor's practice because of the irritation Harry Potter caused her.

At first it was just annoying that the pair of them seemed to be in some sort of pain when they were near each other, but over the course of the school year she started to understand why hate bubbled away under her skin when she laid eyes on him. It was his fault. Harry Potter. Harry, the boy who lived. He was the reason that the dark lord was gone. This idiotic glasses clad child was the person who took away Cassie's mentor. She would never admit it out loud but the girl missed him more than anything.

She was sitting under a large tree while the cold air nipped at her exposed skin, it was a Saturday and she had been teaching Draco and Pansy all morning. Whenever she taught them she needed a moment to herself just to settle the feeling in her stomach, she preferred to be near the black lake just incase her magic got the better of her. Her left hand was up on her chest fiddling with the ring that hung from the necklace that she never took off. Of course a few hours of peace and quiet would have been too much to ask for, a whistling tune was coming from behind her causing her to roll her eyes and turn around.

Professor Dumbledore was strolling along head tilted up towards the sky like he was looking for something, Cassie scrunched her brows together and cleared her throat making the old man aware of her presence.

"hello professor" she said happily giving the man a smile.

"Miss Black" he looked down and the girl who was sprawled out on the grass, "I almost didn't see you there"

"I'm easy to miss" she sat up and shrugged.

"May I just say that necklace is lovely" he smiled.

"thank you sir, it was a gift from a friend" she told a half truth. She didn't think lord Voldemort really had friends.

"Well your friend has great taste" he nodded, "care to walk back up to the castle with me?" he asked.

Cassie nodded, "sure, I should get back before Pansy sends a search party after me" she laughed to herself and tucked her necklace back under the grey shirt she had on. She stood and threw her coat over her arm after brushing off stray blades of grass from her skirt.

"I can only assume that Miss Parkinson is a good friend to you" Dumbledore spoke more a statement than a question.

"She is, she's my best friend" she smiled up at the professor as they began walking towards the castle. "don't let Draco know I said that though or he'll have my head" she laughed.

"Emmeline has told me that your excellent with both your duelling and fighting skills, does that mean the sessions are paying off?" he questioned as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"They are, at least I think they are. I haven't been having nearly as many episodes as before" she nodded happy with her progress, "it helps that Emmeline is an amazing trainer too"

Dumbledore let out a knowing chuckle and started looking at the sky again, "Emmeline was one of the top students in her year whilst here at Hogwarts, I'm positive that'll rub off on you"

Just as they were about to reach the court yard the professor let a loud "ah ha" escape and he held out his arm quite high in the sky. Cassiopeia dropped to the floor as a giant red bird swooped down and landed on the headmasters extended arm with a caw.

"Bloody hell, I think I've just had a heart attack" Cassie said from her spot on the floor with her hand over her heart.

"Sorry about that, this is Fawkes" Dumbledore reached down to help Cassie up with his free hand.

Cassiopeia was fascinated by the creature, gently stroking the top of his head. "is he a Phoenix?"

"he is, ive been out here looking for him all morning" he shook his head at the bird, "always up to trouble aren't you" the bird cawed again and flew off in the direction of the tower that housed Dumbledores office.

"I wish I had a Phoenix" she watched the bird as they carried on walking through the courtyard.

"Well Cassiopeia it has been lovely talking to you, don't forget if you ever need to confide anything to someone other than your friends that my door is always open" he patted the small witches shoulder.

"Thank you Professor, see you later" she called as she turned and started walking towards the dungeons.