A Bright Star

Chapter 19: Christmas / Yule

In the passing weeks, Cassiopeia tried to find as much information as she could about the Wizengamot. There wasn't much the Hogwarts library offered. When books failed, she turned to her friends.

Corvus, Cayden, Nicholas, Caelum, and Lysandra all held Heirships, many of them falling into the tier of Most Ancient and Noble and Ancient and Noble Houses.

"Potter has no idea about his Lordship?" Nicholas most certainly didn't scream when Cassiopeia told them one night in the common room.

Cassiopeia raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "I believe that's what I said," she said.

After the initial shock, he had proceeded to lecture Cassiopeia on all that any heir would need to know. Corvus, Cayden, and Caelum chimed in at times, explaining the etiquette that had been drilled into them as children.

"He'll have to decide which customs to follow," Lysandra added when the conversation came to a lull. Around Cassiopeia were stacks of parchment, inks blots marking her fingers and her cheek.

"What do you mean?" Cassiopeia tilted her head to the side. Customs? What kind of customs?

"Lys means . . .'' Astoria hesitated. "The Olde or New Ways. House Potter has never been open about their practices, they were Gray for the most part. He's going to have to decide which custom his House will follow."

Cassiopeia blinked.

Fuck. She knew Harry would hate to go against the customs and practices his family had practiced for millenia. Which means, they had more research to conduct. But who would we ask?

Later that night, after Cassiopeia said goodnight to her friends, she carefully drew her wand, casting a silencing spell around her bed before casting lumos.

Hello Tom!

Little Snake, how're you? Came the immediate reply. Sometimes, Cassiopeia felt as if Tom was simply waiting for her to write to him because he never wasted time responding to her. It made her feel sad, the implication of how lonely her friend was.

I hate herbology. It seemed to be an automatic reply. She could already imagine Tom smirking at her, having been subjected to many of her rants regarding the subject.

And I hated transfiguration, I was always beat out by a Lion in my year. Cassiopeia startled, blinking in shock at the admittance. It's why I mastered the subject, to surpass her. Cassiopeia snorted, that sounds like something he would've done. As she's learned, Tom can be incredibly petty at times.

They discuss her lessons for a while, Tom expressing his absolute disgust in how much the curriculum has changed since he was in school.

Alchemy? Spell Casting? Spell Creation? Warding? Runic Charms? That's not fair! We don't have any of that! Cassiopeia was astounded by the amount of classes Tom had taken and had available.

There were actually more, many classes began to get cut during my sixth year when Headmaster Dippit passed.

Headmaster Dippit? The name sounded familiar to Cassiopeia for some reason. Wait, how long have you been stuck in here?

Nearly fifty years I imagine.

Fifty years. Fifty years of life continuing on and Tom has only seen the inside of a diary. It was . . . depressing.

You're old. Cassiopeia teased, attempting to lighten the sullen mood that had fallen on her.

Impertinent brat! I'm not old!