The Last of the Blacks

Chapter 55: Speech

"Cassie," her aunt said...

"When I was in my third year all the school hated me, bullied me, made fun of me because my father was the Sirius Black! Again you didn't care to show up..."

"Cassiopea..."

"What about my first kiss? Or my Hogwarts letter? Or the day I killed the basilisk? Or when I almost died because of your master's locket?"

Cassie looked at her aunt.

Her aunt Andromeda was breathing heavily. Not because she was mad, Cassiopea realized when her eyes sparkled. She was proud.

Fucking Merlin.

Someone was proud of something Cassiopea Black had done.

"So... That's everything?" Emma Rosier asked.

"No. But it's enough for now? Auntie?" Cassie turned to Andromeda. "Um... Has Nana arrived? She promised to help for the speech."

Andromeda smiled like nothing happened.

*******
Three hours later the Snakes were praying for a time turner. The plan to break Irma's neck sometime between September last year and January this year was the best they had ever had. Or maybe returning to a time when Sirius...

No. No thoughts like this.

"My name is..."

"No," Irma said. "Everybody knows who you are, Cassiopea. Start with something else."

Cassie nodded. "As we all know magical purity is a..." she stopped. Irma looked up from her book. "Um... I don't know what to say."

Her Nana leaned back in her chair. "Then you are wasting our time. You waste their time. Tell me something, Cassiopea. You are a pureblood witch from the Noble and Most Ancient house of Black and the Rosier family. What does it do for you?"

Cassie looked up.

"Look at me!"

Cassie did. "As a pureblood witch I am... I have many... I don't know. What does it do for me? It makes people think that I am evil! That I am a Death-Eater!"

"And you are not?" Irma laughed. "You are their leader, Cassiopea Black. You are evil. You are ruthless. You are every thing people thing you are. So? We already know this. But you want to prove them wrong?"

Cassie nodded without opening her mouth. Tears burned in her eyes.

"Well," Irma said, "prove me wrong. Prove me that you aren't responsible for your father's death, for Albus Dumbledore's death. Prove me that you are a good young lady that wants to protect the wizardry community. Start over with your  speech. Come on."

Cassie took a deep breath and looked at the door, expecting someone to walk in. To help her.

But right now she was alone with Irma. She had to do whatever her Nana told her to.

"As a lady in the pureblood community I have been taking care for a lot of magical orphans. Most of them..."

Cassie stopped when Irma laughed sharply. She took a step back to her own chair, but her great-grandmother stood up. "Orphans? Really, Cassiopea?" Cassie looked at her shoes, embarrassed from her unability to say what she had planned to. "I am going to bed. Kreacher will wake me up after three hours to see if you have anything better than orphans. Clear?"

Cassiopea nodded as she watched Irma Black walked out of the living room, leaving Cassie alone with her thoughts.

She took a deep breath and took a piece of paper from her school bag, which she had left here when she had come back from Hogwarts. She started writing.