cassandra
The trek up to the castle took a painfully long time to complete. As she was walking, Cassandra remembered the first time she had seen Hogwarts. Assisted by her excitement and amazement, she was able to complete the journey fairly quickly. Those feelings did not aid her today.
In the doorway of the main entrance rested a familiar wizard. His long, white beard and tall figure looked just the same as a few months ago. Cassandra guessed a few months was only a second of time for a man who was over 150 years old.
The setting sun casted a warm orange light on the man as he stood to his feet. "Hello Cassandra," he grinned.
She only smiled in return. It was difficult being polite in her current emotional state.
Cassandra stood with Dumbledore under the large, dark shadow of the endless castle. Everything had changed since the first time she had stood with Dumbledore, defeated and afraid in the grim halls of Grimmauld place. Although she had experienced copious amounts of love, joy, and triumph over the past few months, now she was left with only sorrow and despair.
"You're probably wondering why I asked you here today."
"Yeah a bit."
Dumbledore began walking forward and away from the castle. It was weird seeing the grounds empty. During the school year there'd be students laying on the shore of the lake, sitting in the cool shade of a tree, flying around the quidditch pitch with a quaffle in hand, or just taking a peaceful walk across the grounds.
The sun was now almost completely hidden beneath the horizon. As she lifted her feet into a walk, she was guided only by the surviving rays of light reflecting off of the Black Lake.
"Cassandra before we leave you must understand something," Dumbledore began. His light blue robes dragged behind him as he stepped onto the long bridge leading from the castle. "Now that Voldemort has been exposed, it is only a matter of time before he starts leading full on attacks."
Cassandra drew a sharp breath. The impending war was one of many things she had spent her summer trying to forget. His words were slowly dragging her back to reality. A reality of murder and torture and fear.
Dumbledore watched Cassandra and continued only once she nodded her head, "The only way to stop this war is to kill Voldemort."
"Get me a one on one audience with him and I'll gladly do just that."
"It's not that simple, my child," Dumbledore sighed.
"I almost killed him in June, if Bellatrix didn't hex me when she did, Voldemort would be dead."
"Even if you would have siphoned all of the magic from Voldemort's body, he would not have died."
"What do you mean?"
"When Voldemort tried to kill Harry on that fateful night in Godric's Hollow, the curse rebounded and destroyed Voldemort's body, but not his soul... If you would have succeeded, I'm afraid it would have ended with the same result... Voldemort can not die like a normal wizard."
"But how is he..." Cassandra paused for a moment to find the words, "preserving his soul?"
"It's old magic, dark magic. He has found a way to store bits of his soul in objects, called Horcruxes. As long as these objects exist, Voldemort can not be killed."
They were almost to the edge of the long bridge. Cassandra stopped moving forward. On either side of them was only air. The stream leading into the Black Lake was flowing a few hundred feet below them. If Cassandra focused, she could almost hear the water slapping the rocks. She stared to the ground far below as she processed Dumbledore's words.
"How do we find these objects? How many are there? How do we destroy them?"
"I don't yet know how to destroy them or how many there are; but I've known Tom for a long time. He was cold and proud even as a boy. I don't think he would chose to store his soul in any old object. He values himself too much. He would hide it in something meaningful, something he views as almost important as him. Harry destroyed the first one almost four years ago in the Chamber of Secrets."
"His diary..." Cassandra mumbled. She had remembered Harry's story about the Chamber of Secrets and the diary that Voldemort had used to possess Ginny Weasley.
"Yes, his diary. And I think I've found another."
Cassandra took a deep breath, "Well... what are we waiting for?"
A few moments later, Cassandra was standing outside a small village surrounded by rolling green hills. Atop the tallest hill was a large black manor. It was obviously once an impressive structure. But now, even from a distance, it was clear the house was left to rot away.
The view of the nearby cemetery sent chills through Cassandra. It embodied every dark stereotype about graveyards. It was dark, filled with fog, and very unsettling.
Dumbledore didn't walk into town, or towards the graveyard, but into the nearby brush. Cassandra reluctantly followed.
He used his wand to clear away the remaining bunches and overgrown grass. Once it was no longer obscured, a crumbling shack appeared before them. It was hard to see due to being covered in vines and other vegetation. The shack blended in with the forest.
"Where are we?"
"This is the former house of the Gaunt family. Merope Gaunt was Voldemort's mother."
"Oh..." Cassandra blinked. His pure blood mania and affinity for rich and powerful families suddenly makes sense. The people who crave power too much are always the people who once had too little.
"During Tom's later years at Hogwarts, a small ring with a black stone was always seen hugging his finger. It was a family ring, passed down through the Gaunt family for generations. He was very proud of it."
"Important enough to hide his soul inside?"
Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, I think so."
They entered the small shack. The door nearly feel off it's hinges as it opened. The rest of the building wasn't in much better shape. Cassandra slowly began walking through the battered room and Dumbledore did the same.
Wands provided the only light inside the dark living room. They illuminated the previously unseen details of the shack. All of the surviving furniture was covered with at least an inch of dust and debris. The floor boards were rotting. And the vines covering the outside the house had managed to slip through the cracks in the stone and was no growing inside the house.
The old drawers strewn throughout the room held nothing but cobwebs and dirt. The ring was no where to be found. Cassandra couldn't imagine anything of importance could be hiding in the rubble of this disgusting house.
After twenty minutes of searching for the ring, Dumbledore turned to leave. Cassandra followed after letting out a sigh of defeat.
Just as Dumbledore neared the center of the living room, his foot stepped on a loose floorboard. It let out a loud creak and almost broke in half beneath his weight.
Dumbledore bent to lift the floorboard. Beneath was a small black box. It was much more clean than the rest of the house. The box was probably protected by some type of charm to prevent corrosion. That was a good sign.
The lid of the box snapped open and revealed a small, golden ring with a black rock fixed on the band. Dumbledore stared at it silently.
"Is that it?" Cassandra asked.
"Yes, this is the Gaunt ring," Dumbledore muttered in response, his mind was clearly somewhere else. After a few more moments, Dumbledore shook his thoughts back to reality. "Take my hand, we must leave while we can."
Cassandra reached forward and Disapparated once again. She opened her eyes to find Dumbledore's office surrounding her.
The office looked just as it always had. Umbridge never had the chance to desecrate the room last school year due to the office's refusal to open itself to her.
Dumbledore walked straight to his desk and sat down in the chair positioned behind it. He was still memorized by the ring, as if he thought that if he looked closely enough, it would tell him the world's secrets. Unfortunately the ring wasn't talking.
"So... what do we do now?" Cassandra asked.
It was as if she never spoke at all. Dumbledore never even attempted to pay attention. The usual soft, glowing light moving throughout the room allowed Cassandra to see the finer details of the ring. There was a small symbol etched into the black stone. It was a triangle with smaller shapes inside. Cassandra had taken ancient runes with Hermione, but she still couldn't recognize the symbol.
Cassandra watched as Dumbledore slid the ring onto his finger. His concentration was finally broken when he let out a hiss of pain and threw the ring onto the desk.
"My apologies Cassandra, I forgot myself for a moment."
"It's no problem professor," Cassandra assured. She walked closer to Dumbledore's desk, her attention now grabbed by the small piece of jewelry. "What's the symbol inscribed on the ring?"
"It's very old. A crest from the Peverell family," Dumbledore explained as he cradled his right hand.
"Well... do you think it holds a piece of his soul?"
"Why don't you tell me?"
Blinded by curiosity, she reached forward for the piece of jewelry. Completely forgetting the pain Dumbledore had experienced when he threaded his finger through the ring.
When her fingers brushed the cool metal, Cassandra instantaneously felt the dark magic encased inside jump inside her body like an electric shock.
The magic felt dangerous and angry, but it also felt... familiar.
Cassandra had felt this magic before. Her heart began racing faster than a unicorn.
She had felt it when she had stolen Voldemort's magic. And she had felt it one other time, many months ago.
This was the same magic she had felt oh-so-long ago back in Grimmauld Place. When she had accidentally siphoned Harry the day they met.
The entire office was crumbling around her. A feeling Cassandra knew all too well.
"What's wrong?" Dumbledore asked as he stood to his feet. He reached forward and placed his hand on her shaking shoulder.
"Harry... Harry..." Cassandra stuttered. She took a moment to regain her composure and raised the ring in the air. "He's one of these things isn't he?"
"Yes... a part of Voldemort lives inside him."
"So, in order for Voldemort to be destroyed, Harry must die?"
"Yes, he must die."
Cassandra stood in front of Dumbledore's desk, still holding the small ring between her fingers. She couldn't find the ability to move, breathe, or speak.
Every weird ability and vision of Harry's was beginning to make sense.
The magic inside the ring was still pulsating into her skin. Reminding Cassandra of it's existence. It wasn't a good feeling.
As she stood there with tears rolling down her cool cheeks and a wobbly stance, Cassandra began to consider her options.
She pictured Harry dying just as Sirius and her mother had. Gone in an instant, right before her eyes. In that moment, Cassandra knew she would never let that happen. She couldn't handle losing another person she loved.
It was a very rushed decision, but Cassandra didn't regret it.
Still standing on the other side of the desk was Dumbledore, watching her grip the ring inside of her fist. He had a mixture of concern and confusion across his wrinkled face. He was constantly glimpsing down at his hand, but his gaze always quickly returned to the girl in front of him.
Cassandra waited for Dumbledore to interject, but he never did.
Absorbing the ring's power was surprisingly easy. It was as if Voldemort wanted her to consume the Horcrux's power.
When she first felt it, Cassandra knew why. Deafening ringing burst through her ears along with the feeling of horrific, but immense power.
The magic felt terrible. Once she heard the whispers begin to flutter between her ears, Cassandra knew she was no longer alone inside her own head.
But it had worked. The ring dropped onto the wooden desk with a clang. It was now covered with a dark tarnish and its mystic glow was gone. An intrigued Dumbledore picked up the ring began examining it.
He placed it softly back into the desk with an expression of horror plastered across his face.
"What did you do?" Dumbledore whispered. She didn't answer his question. Dumbledore had already figured out what she had done.
Cassandra had siphoned Voldemort's soul from the ring.
And now, a piece of it lived inside her.
Just like it did in Harry.
"I'm going to save Harry Potter."
**********
A/N
I love cass. I wish I was badass as her. But sometimes she's a little bit impulsive, hence her turning herself into a horcrux.
This is going to cause a lot of problems so stay tuned.
-Madds
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