SAY MY NAME ౨ৎ CASSIOPEIA BLACK

THE BLACK SISTERS

as cassiopeia selene black wandered through the dimly lit corridors of her family's ancestral home, a sense of bitterness and betrayal lingered in her heart. the flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows on the walls, emphasizing the portraits of her ancestors that lined the hallways. her mind drifted back to a memory that had haunted her for years.

with a heavy heart, she recalled the night of her first year at Hogwarts when, as an innocent eleven-year-old, she had turned to her father, sirius black, seeking reassurance and love. the memory played out vividly in her mind, her young voice filled with uncertainty as she whispered a question that had lingered in the back of her mind.

"would you still love me if i was placed into ravenclaw... or slytherin?" she remembered asking her father. his response had come easily, filled with words of warmth and acceptance that had comforted her at the time. but now, those words felt like hollow promises.

as she walked through the familiar halls of her family home, cassiopeia couldn't ignore the bitter truth that had slowly unraveled before her eyes. sirius black, her father, had tried to shield her from the darkness of their family's past, to raise his daughters with the love and care he had never received himself. but as time passed, she had seen him crumble, revealing a man plagued by the same prejudices and insecurities that had tainted his family for generations.

the realization hit her like a ton of bricks – despite his best intentions, despite his efforts to be different, sirius black was succumbing to the legacy of his family he hated so much. the saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" rang true in her mind, her father personifying the very hypocrisy he had fought so hard to shield his daughters from.

with a heavy sigh, cassiopeia knew one thing for certain, her father, Sirius Black, was nothing but a hypocritical piece of shit. The love he had professed was tarnished by his own self, by the shadows of his past that he could never fully escape. He couldn't run from his own family line no matter how hard he tried.

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andromeda helios black didn't think she was that dumb. most things tended to fly past her, but it wasn't entirely her fault – she just didn't notice things. or perhaps, she chose not to notice them. but amidst the chaos of life in the black family, there were some things that simply could not escape her attention.

one such thing was the absence of her older sister, cassiopeia, who had left for her first year at hogwarts. with cassie's departure, the dynamics within the black household shifted. andromeda couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she knew that something had changed, something was different.

it wasn't just the quiet that settled over their home in cassie's absence, nor was it the empty chair at the dinner table. no, it was something deeper, something unspoken. andromeda noticed how her parents, mommy and daddy, started to argue more frequently. they tried to hide it from her, speaking in hushed tones and plastering fake smiles on their faces, but andromeda wasn't blind.

as she roamed the corridors of their home, the whispers of their arguments echoed in her ears. andromeda found herself lingering outside closed doors, straining to catch snippets of their heated conversations. she couldn't understand the reasons behind their conflicts, but she knew that it had something to do with cassie.

andromeda's heart pounded in her chest as she stood frozen outside her parents' closed door, listening to their heated argument unfold. the revelation that cassiopeia had been sorted into slytherin seemed to hang in the air, a heavy secret that threatened to shatter the fragile peace of their family.

"what's wrong with that? she's still my cassie," andromeda thought to herself, struggling to make sense of her parents' harsh words. in her young mind, the sorting hat's decision held no weight – cassiopeia was still the same sister she loved and looked up to, regardless of the house she had been placed in.

but as she listened to her mother's angry accusations and her father's frustrated retorts, andromeda began to glimpse the deeper rifts that lay beneath the surface of their family. the mention of bellatrix lestrange, their estranged aunt whose name was whispered in hushed tones, sent a chill down her spine. bellatrix was a figure of darkness and madness, a symbol of everything the black family tried to hide and forget.

andromeda's mother's words cut deep, her voice filled with fear and desperation. the accusations that cassiopeia would end up like the rest of her father's family – that she would become insane, a death eater – echoed in the darkness of the night. andromeda's heart ached for her sister

andromeda black closed her eyes that night, a sense of unease settling in her chest as she offered up a silent prayer. she prayed fervently that when her time came to be sorted into one of the four hogwarts houses, the sorting hat would not call out slytherin for her. she prayed for everything to be alright for cassiopeia, for their family to find peace once more.

as the days turned into weeks, andromeda continued to carry the weight of her family's secrets and struggles on her young shoulders. the facade of perfection and happiness that her parents tried to maintain crumbled around them, revealing cracks and fractures that ran deep within the black household.

during andromeda's first year of hogwarts and cassiopeia's second year, their parents had divorced. it was rough for andromeda for awhile but soon her family was back and everything was fine.

but it was during one incident, when she caught a glimpse of cassiopeia's eyes filled with pain and sadness, that andromeda's world came crashing down around her. through the eyes of her older sister, andromeda saw the horror of their family's reality – the secrets, the lies, the betrayals that had been happening for years. behind her back.

as cassiopeia peeled back the layers of deception and denial, revealing the truth that had been hidden from andromeda's innocent eyes, she felt a cold chill creep down her spine. the picture-perfect image of their family shattered, replaced by a dark and twisted reality that andromeda had never known existed.

andromeda helios black soon realized that her family was far from perfect, far from happy. and in that moment, andromeda vowed to stand by her sister.