The Last of the Blacks

Chapter 1: Welcome Home

"Yup. Me too," he admitted sadly. "But... You cannot be the sad little girl forever, Cassiopea, and you know that. I have no idea about half of the things that cross your mind right now so you can help and tell me."

Cassie shooked her head. Lately she was thinking about Hogwarts as Azkaban and she didn't even know why. Hogwarts was one of the places she called home. It was the place where she belonged.

But her dad had escaped Azkaban and he was looking for Harry Potter. And not for her. Was it possible that the ache in her stomach was caused by that envy, that hatred?

"Can you give me aunt Andromeda's letter, please?" she asked her uncle.

"Sure... I am going to look for Ron, Hermione and Harry and them..." Cassie just nodded at everything he said trying to read the letter.

"My dearest Cassiopea,
It has been ages since the last time I heard from you and I hope you have a good explanation why. After all, as your aunt, I must know everything that happens to you.
I have something to tell you. As you know I am a really good friend with Mrs Greengrass. She is the mother of Astoria and Daphne Greengrass, whom I believe you've met. Anyways. Last Sunday we were having tea when she told me that her husband's nephew is going to study in Hogwarts with you.
The poor woman! She was so worried about him. Mrs Greengrass said that she will appreciate if you become friends with him. And as for me. I am not asking you. I am saying that you HAVE TO become friends with the Greengrass boy. Am I clear?... "

Cassie rolled her eyes when someone opened the compartment's door. She lifted her head up looking straight into the eyes of the one and only Daphne Greengrass.

"Hey," the Slytherin said and sat down opposite of Cassie's seat. "What's up?"

"My aunt and your mother."

Daphne growed and rolled her eyes. "It's about Kol, isn't it? My cousin is the most annoying person in the whole fucking world... But for some reason Astoria likes him."

"I thought we were going going to meet tomorrow in the library?" Cassie asked her friend. That was the only bad thing in being in Gryffindor and most of your friends were Slytherins. You had to hide that they were your friends.

"I know. I thought that you might like some company. Do the Golden trio know about..."

"Hell, no!" Cassie laughed. She put the letter in her bag and sat down in their seats with her uncle Remus. "Harry will kill me if he knows about it."

Daphne rolled her eyes, laughing at her friend. She was one of the few people that Cassie had told about Sirius Black and his crime. Killing a bunch of muggle was not a rare crime, but everyone had decided that her father was a supporter of You-Know-Who. Her father, who had not seen his family (all of whom were Death Eaters) years before Cassiopeia was born. Her father, who was a loyal friend of James and Lily Potter, who was the godfather of the damn Harry Potter. 

"Are you going to tell them about it?" Daphne asked so quietly that Cassie could barely hear her from the whistling of the wind. "I mean..."

"I am going to tell them when Sirius Black is in Azkaban again," said the young Gryffindor confidently. "If Harry is still alive afterwards."

Daphne snorted, nodding at the compartment door. "The witch will be here in a moment. Do you want something?" Cassie laughed and licked her lips to stop. Daphne Greengrass had been the Trolley Witch's favorite student for three years, buying a little of everything and eating it before they reached Hogwarts.

"What's the secret to this slim waist, my friend?" Cassie asked with a radiant smile on her lips.

"Quidditch," Daphne said proudly. "Dad finally let me play. I plan to try out for the Slytherin team this year."

"I heard Draco was planning to give up Quidditch, but I doubt it. This damn idiot is doing anything to show off."

Cousins, but not quite. With Black's blood, but no relatives. Cassie and Draco had talked once. It didn't go very well mainly because he started making fun of her, and she kicked him between the legs. Cassie had to be more careful, because the next morning she received a Howler from her aunt Andromeda. As she listened to her aunt's screams and blushed more and more, feeling everyone in the Great Hall look at her, Cassiopeia saw Draco grinning with his stupid friends at Slytherin's table. That was the day he met Daphne and Hermione ... and lost at least 50 points to Gryffindor.

"Yup. Tori has heard the same," Daphne sighed. "She is kind of obsessed with him."

Which of the girls in their year wasn't,  Cassiopea thought. Sometimes there were crowds following Draco Malfoy around the halls. Cassie even found a paper full of "Mrs Lavender Malfoy."

Daphne looked at her watch and paled. "Bloody hell ! I have to go. Kol needs my help... Again."

******
Hogwarts. Home. Two different words representing the same thing.
The old castle was the same as last year and as the year before. Yet Cassiopea Black wasn't the same person.

A 13-year-old witch with a big talent and a furious heart. She could be unstoppable... Only if she started to listen more in Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall 's classes.

Cassie rolled her eyes and got into a carriage in which there was only one boy. Black-haired and absolutely sexy, he sat curled up in the corner of the vehicle. He was new. Cassie recognized the black tie and disoriented her gaze.

"Hey," she said. "Is the seat taken?"

The boy shook his head but his eyes never met hers. The carriage started its way to Hogwarts. The whole time the new boy was starting at her like she was some sort of treasure or something.

"You are really beautiful," he finally said. Cassie's cheeks turned red. They were almost the same color as Ron and Ginny's hair. No one had ever called her beautiful before.

" Thanks." Thanks?! Oh, God. She was so stupid. Why didn't she say something like "So do you, stranger". But she was not good at flirting. Hermione had told her that she had to learn and yet Cassiopea never truly understood why. Until now.

"What's your name by the way?" the boy asked. "Mine is Kol. Kol Greengrass."

"So you are the cousin who needs my friend's help?" Cassie laughed.

"I'm not that helpless! So. What's the dark-haired beauty's name?" He called her beauty! Someone thought she was beautiful... And that was Daphne's cousin.

"Cassiopea Black."

She was getting ready to answer the question for her dad and actually wanted to lie and tell that her father was Regulus, not Sirius. But then he asked something different. "And why are you all alone?"

Cassie thanked whoever was helping her right now and answered him as kindly as she could. "My uncle and my friends got into a carriage, leaving me alone. Your cousin is with the Slytherins."

"You sound very lonely, Cassiopea Black," he said softly. "Which house are you in?"

"Gryffin..."

And then she saw the castle. Hogwarts. Her home. The best place to go. She was seeing it for third time and she had been living in it... Yet she just couldn't take her eyes away from it.

Hogwarts lighted windows gleaned merrily, as if they were welcoming her home. As if they were saying 'Welcome home, Cassiopea Black.'