Cassiopeia Black grew up with more on her plate than the usual teen girl. She didn't get to wear pink dresses or cry over boys who had broken her heart. No. She was stuck worrying about her brothers and what the future holds.
James Potter never real...
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( chapter ) forty-two
"YOU KNOW THEY'RE GOING TO hate it, don't you Cass?" Regulus spoke, his voice almost shaking as he tried his hardest not to stare at the bruise on her eye, and the gash on her lips.
Regulus had to hold back his tears as he watched the girl flinch as she went to stand up, he quickly moved to help her, but stopped when she gave him a slight glare.
Regulus had almost broken down when he had entered his sisters room, seeing her sitting on her bed.
But he knew it would be even more selfish of him to do so.
Cassie had gone through all this for him, if he had just been brave and told their parents that it was him who decided not to tell them about the way that she was now friends with muggle-borns, half-bloods and blood-traitors, then he would have gone through it all instead of her.
He would be the one who couldn't move without feeling as if the weight of the world rested upon his shoulders, he'd be the one who couldn't look in the mirror, scared of their own reflection and what he'd see staring back at him; knowing that it would be nothing like he would be expecting. He knew that he'd for once be able to say that he had done something to protect his siblings, protect the only people that he knew loved him.
But he was scared.
Regulus had heard Cassies screams, had heard the way that she sobbed for the pain to stop only getting laughs that sent chills through his spine in response. He had seen the way she squirmed on the floor like a bug that was lying on it's back, trying to get right way up again. He had seen the dents in the furniture where she had hit it so hard, unable to stop the way that her body moved once she was under the spell. He had seen the pain that she had gone through, and he never wanted to experience that himself. He knew that he wasn't strong enough and would just break under the first stab of pain.
Regulus idolised his older sister, the way that she went through all of this, almost once a day, but she was still strong.
She wasn't afraid. Oh, but she was, she was terrified of making one wrong move.
She was strong. She was as strong as a piece of rope, holding on by a final thread.
She coped. The thoughts taking over her mind said otherwise.
But of course, Regulus didn't know any of this, no-one knew any of this.
And if she told them, Cassie was sure that the thread keeping her all together would snap.
"I know Regulus, I'm not stupid." Cassie took in another deep breath as she held onto her bedside table, helping herself stand up, a broken smile appearing on her face as she finally found herself standing on two feet.
