shooting star [s. black]

xlviii.

"I love you too. And I trust you with my life. We promised each other for better or for worse." She assures him and he smiles softly, before leaning down and pecking her lips. She feels the familiar feeling of being apparated and she pulls away, noticing that they're somewhere else. She looks around and her heart drops as she notices all the bodies around her. One particular body sticks out and she puts a hand over her mouth as she recognises Marlene and her family. "Merlin's beard, that's Mar. Oh, merlin. No. They're all dead. Mar, Dor, Lily and James."

She felt like life had reached it end, with nearly all her friends dead. She barely had time to process the death of Lily and James, now she was faced with the death of Marlene. Her heart had shattered into pieces, uncertain if she'll ever heal from this pain. She started to panic at the thought of losing Sirius to this battle and she looks up at him with wide eyes.

"We can't stay here, Sirius. We have to get Harry and go." Cassiopeia says firmly, making him shake his head and looks down at her.

"Hey, look at me. I know it hurts, but we have to focus on finding Peter." Sirius says and she sighs, blinking away her tears as she stands closer to him.

"Looking for me?" A voice cuts in and they turn to see Peter standing there with his wand in his hands. Sirius is about to charge at him, but Cassiopeia takes his hand, holding him back. "You shouldn't have come Sirius."

"What have you done? You got James and Lily killed! Your friends, our best friend. After all those years, you just turned your back on us and killed them." Sirius snarls angrily, angry tears burning his eyes and Cassiopeia starts to worry that something bad is about to happen.

"You don't understand. You'll never understand. You have the perfect life, loyal best friends, a fiancé. You have everything you want. You can get away with whatever you want, you're always loved by everyone. I'm sick of being in yours and James' shadow." Peter snaps, making Sirius scoff in disbelief.

"So you killed him? That was your solution. You turned against us and told the Dark Lord where they were. We trusted you." Sirius exclaims in disbelief, making Peter chuckle dryly and shake his head.

"You only trusted me because you thought I was too weak to go to Voldemort. You were wrong, as you can see. And you know what the best part is, I'll get away with it and the blame will fall on you. After all you're a Black, no one will be surprised if you suddenly lost it and turned back to your family." Peter snickers, making Cassiopeia's heart drop. He pulls out a knife, making Sirius push Cassiopeia behind him protectively. Cassiopeia gasps as she watches Peter cut his finger off, before turning away, feeling disturbed.

"The problem is it's your word against Cassie and mine. They won't believe you for a second." Sirius points out, making Peter laugh and shake his head.

"I'll be dead. Well, they'll think I'm dead. After all they never knew we were animagus, so they wouldn't suspect a rat." Peter points out, making Sirius clench his jaw and pulls his wand out, Peter notices it and does the same. Before Sirius can even cast a spell, Peter casts a curse.

Everything seems to slow down as Cassiopeia pushes Sirius away and the deadly curse hits her instead. Peter's eyes widen and he immediately turns into a rat, leaving as fast as possible. Sirius watches with wide eyes as Cassiopeia falls to the floor, motionless. His whole world stops and his heart drops. Tears roll down his cheeks as he drops to his knees next to her, picking her lifeless body into his arms as he sobs.

"No. No. Cassie, no. Please don't leave me." He sobs as he holds her close, hoping he's about to wake up and realise that this whole thing was a nightmare. "We were supposed to get cottage together and have our own family, please no. Merlin no. Don't leave me."

"Sirius." He turns around to see Remus with McGonagall and Dumbledore, as well as Aurors. Remus' eyes widen as he sees Cassiopeia's body. "What have you done?"

"Remus, you have to believe me. Peter, he was the Secret Keeper." Sirius says weakly and Remus shakes his head, not believing him.

"How can I believe you when you killed him too. You killed them all." Remus breaths out weakly as he picks up Peter's wand, next to the finger, making Sirius shake his head.

"Sirius Black, you're under arrest for the murder of James and Lily Potter, Cassiopeia Lovia-"

"Black. Cassiopeia Black. We got married, not that it matters." Sirius says numbly, as he takes her engagement and wedding ring, keeping it close. Remus looks away, unable to see who he used to call a best friend over his own wife's dead body.

"Right. Cassiopeia Black, Peter Pettigrew and many more. As well for serving the Dark Lord." An Auror says as he pulls Sirius up and drags him away. As they walk past Remus, Sirius stops.

"The paintings. I beg of you, keep them safe." Sirius says and Remus nods in acceptance, not meeting his eyes. Sirius is then dragged away, leaving Remus with Dumbledore and Minerva.

"I can't believe this. Why would he..." Remus trails off and Minerva puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"No one will ever know the madness behind his actions tonight. I must admit, none of this makes sense." Minerva hums, as other Aurors join and starting picking up the dead bodies.

"It's unfair. Am i asking too much to hope that if I wish upon a shooting star for all of this to be just a nightmare, I'd wake up and we'd all still be together." Remus wonders and the two professors smile weakly.

"I'm so sorry, Remus." Minerva says weakly, before she and Dumbledore leave him. He had lost all the people that mattered to him, he was all alone now. He looks up at the sky, as tears continue to roll down his cheeks. The sky is filled with stars, four of them shining brighter than others and he can't help but hope that maybe that those stars are his friends.

Remus spend  the next twelve years believing one of his best friends had murdered all their friends, never realising that the real traitor had gotten away with. The whole wizarding world heard of what Sirius Black supposedly had done, murdering his best friends and his own wife. It had been a massive scandal, but not many were shocked and believed that as a Black he was doomed to follow the Dark Lord. But the real talk of the war, was how a little boy by the name of Harry Potter had defeated the Lord Voldemort.

Harry Potter grew up with his mother's sister, never knowing that on that unfortunate night of the 31st October 1981, he had lost not only his parents, but also godparents. He would never know of the story of Cassiopeia Lovia Black, as she became a forgotten memory, while her widowed husband spend years in Azkaban. He'd never hear of her name, not until the day came for him to meet his godfather.