Brave [2]

Chapter 77

It felt so odd, coming back after a long week of being on the outside, with the Weasleys. Now there's no Ginny here either, and the feeling of being constricted in a room – even if it's the Room of Requirement – came back full force. But instead I just ran to my friends, pulling them into tight hugs. They requested I told them what happened while I was there, while Taylor was just startled at the fact I was still alive.

Well, not quite startled.

"I thought we were finally rid of you?" she scoffed jokingly, rolling her eyes. "Disappointing. Apparently You-Know-Who can't kill anyone anymore. Someone should show him how to do a decent job." I just grinned, but it faded after I explained everything that happened to me, how I finally lost my lies on Voldemort, how I could no longer keep Harry or anyone safe anymore. All my influence was gone.

"Someone say something happy," I had whispered, but the silence fell over the four of us, knowing there wasn't much to say. Kal was still in America, Maddie and Aiden were in hiding, and I was nearly killed. There was a war on the horizon. What could we possibly have said?

But then Taylor somehow found something. "Uh... Dudley finally kissed me." I turned to her in surprise, not having seen it coming, but then something half between a laugh and a sob had escaped my lips and Maddie pulled all of us into a tight hug, grateful that we were all at least alive.

Being reunited with Daphne and Astoria was also something else, considering their entire family listened to Potterwatch, all thinking I was dead. They stared at me like they were seeing ghosts, and that's when I knew I needed to remedy this.

"I'm sorry this isn't a proper Potterwatch broadcast," I finally say into my wand as I sit beside the radio, a collective silence taken over the Room as I take over from Lee. "But things have been pretty quiet everywhere. A storm is coming, and this is just the calm before it.

"Many of you believed I died. The Rebel amongst the Death Eaters, finally weeded out from the believers. But while it may be true, that they discovered me, I am not dead. I have no intention of dying. The Dark Lord spread the news to destroy your hope, but it remains. It didn't exist along with me, but with each of your lives. It won't be extinguished. In the end, it'll be him who burns.

"I know it's a question out there that some have been wondering, if you weren't already aware or didn't recognise my voice. I didn't become a spy because I wanted fame or glory. It's because I was given a gift, and I knew I needed to use it. All of you have a gift: you're alive. Use it well. 

"But just because I think it's not important to withhold the information anymore, I'll just let you know now that I'm Cassia Black. By the way. So if you see me at any point, despite the ugly-as-hell Mark on my arm, please try not to kill me."

That makes some of those in the Room chuckle.

But then I remember Ginny, what she said. "Something came to my attention as of late. I feel now more than ever with the lack of sufficient news there's something I need to remind you all. It's not just Harry Potter that's the hero. It's not him and Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Hell, it's not even me.

"It's everyone. Everyone, in Hogwarts or out, on the run or at home, every single witch and wizard and muggle and woman and man and other and child out there, is a hero. Because you're all still standing strong, and we're not going to let anyone take us down. Not now, not ever."

My gaze catches on Neville and Hannah sitting against the wall, the surprise hitting me when I see their tightly clasped hands lying between them, barely visible but enough of me to understand. To realise how blind I've been to everything except this war, forgotten to enjoy myself, forgotten to live.