Arc 1: Immaterial Bonds
Chapter 7: Skipping Stones
I didn't know what to say or do. My throat felt like it had been clamped shut with zero chance of ever reopening. "Negligent"? I'd poured my heart and soul into this investigation, sacrificing so much of sanity for it and he thinks I'd been sitting here doing nothing!? How did he know what I was doing anyway? He hadn't come to visit or asked me what I had been up to- maybe if he was a good father he would know.
I have to go back... The reality was hitting me like I'd collided a broomstick into a hard wall. I'm going to lose everything I'd found here and return to my life of monotonous droning every day. I probably have time to tell one person before Father thinks I've gone rogue and tried to run away... Severus...
Without a moment to spare, I ran towards the Dungeons with the letter clasped firmly in my hand. Would I be able to see him after today? Was all the opening up we achieved going to be for nothing? Damn it...
I didn't have time to be polite so I burst down the door to Snape's office. Never had someone been so frantic and bold to storm into a professor's office. If it was different circumstances, I'm certain I'd have laughed at his shocked face but it only made everything feel direr.
"Severus, it's- I-" I could barely get any words out from my panicked state. Snape settled me down in one of the chairs and waited patiently for me to gather myself. I handed him the letter for him to read.
"'Negligent'? What nonsense is this?" he hissed as he considered scrunching the letter up into a ball.
"I don't know but... I have to leave. Now. If I don't then the Minister will send people from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to bring me back." I cried. "That's how little he trusts me!"
"And there's nothing we can do to prevent this?" he asked as he stared deeply into my eyes. It looked like he was falling apart as much as I was on the inside but he did well to mask it on his exterior.
"No. Once he's made up his mind... there's not a thing that can change it." I pulled my face into my hands and let out a frustrated yell. Right as everything was beginning to go right in my life, it all has to go away again.
Defeated, I rose from the chair and headed to the door. It was too painful to look at him. I wanted to run back and say it was all a joke but it was deadly serious.
"I guess... this is goodbye, Severus. Thank you for... for teaching me what true hope is."
"Hogwarts won't abandon you, Cassandra, and I most certainly won't. We will figure a way to get you back." Snape reassured but there was doubt in his eyes.
"I wish only that it were possible." With that, I left before he could see the tears staining my cheeks. My heart shattered into two. Everything was gone.
*****
Returning to the Ministry was worse than I thought. I don't know what the Minister had said to everyone but people were looking at me like I was some kind of traitor. Deflated, I made my way to his office. The same large wooden doors stood in front of me as a kind of barricade between myself and that dreadful man. Reluctantly, I knocked against the frame.
"Come in." a voice replied, much different from the Minister's usual fake chipper voice.
I opened the door and immediately, the Minister locked eyes with me disapprovingly.
"So you finally decided to turn up, hmm? Sit down. We have much to discuss."
Like before, I had nothing to say to him. But the power dynamic felt skewed in his favour...
"I'm sure you know why you're here. You've been called back after your negligent behaviour while on the mission at Hogwarts and-"
"Negligent, my ass! I don't know what the hell you've been hearing but-"
"Do not interrupt me!" he yelled over me, silencing me on the spot. He wasn't playing around...
He pulled out some photos from his desk and laid them out for me to see.
"Explain what these are then." He gestured towards each of the photos. The first showed me sitting in the courtyard the day I learnt about MacKenna's parents. It was deliberately taken to show as if I was lazily lost in thought.
The second showed me drinking with the other professors last night during the ball. It gave the impression that this was something that I did on the regular...
The last was a picture of Snape and me up at the astronomy tower talking and when we were holding hands... it was supposed to be a private and delicate moment... and someone had spied on us the entire time.
"How... How did you get these!?" I protested and slammed my hands down on the table.
"How I got them is irrelevant. You still need to explain to me exactly what is going on here."
"Oh, I can explain alright. The first was right after I found out information about one of the children's families which was important! The second was at a ball and I had spent most of that day investigating. I take one night to myself and you think I'm doing nothing!? And don't get me started on the last one. That is my life and if you bothered to check in on me one time then maybe you'd understand the context of all of these." My lungs felt compressed after each sentence. He's missed the plot entirely here; there's no chance he can keep me away!
"You always do blame me, Cassandra. You make me out to be such a villain but it is not my fault. It is your own. If you did your job and stopped shaming me then-"
"No. You are not about to pin this on me. You didn't write to me once. You didn't ask me if I wanted to go there and the fact that I was happy threatens you. Is that what it is? You're scared of your daughter having feelings in case she realises what a crappy father you've been? Don't worry, it doesn't take half a brain to figure that out."
"ENOUGH!" he raised his voice. His friendly facade finally broke down. "You will not speak to me that way. I am still the Minister of Magic and you are an employee of the Ministry. There will be serious repercussions, I'll have you know. You are never to go to Hogwarts or have any contact with those who go there. Your permissions at the Ministry are being restricted and you will be under constant review. Finally, and I hope this teaches you a lesson, nobody will call you by that silly name of yours. You have shamed me enough... but there is always time to fix you. Go. I do not wish to see you anymore."
I had no words to throw back at him. My rage built up throughout my body but I knew that throwing a curse at the Minister, even while being his daughter, was a stupid move and would end up in me being sent to Azkaban. Though, it may be a preferable solution to this.
*****
My office was much like how it was when I left almost two months ago. My wooden desk was cleared but there wasn't any dust as if my arrival was planned in advance. I sat down in my chair and looked down at the minuscule figures in the Ministry lobby from the window of my office. I used to feel somewhat proud sitting here. I would do whatever it took for the Ministry because it was all I knew. No matter how wrong it was, there was nothing that I would not do. Such actions caused the damnation of Damien and Lionel MacKenna.
It all felt so dark. It was hopeless. Hogwarts was my home and I had been torn from it and everyone there that I cared for.
"Severus..." I whimpered before fading to a hazy black...
*****
SNAPE'S POINT OF VIEW
It had been several hours since Cassandra had left and I had already spoken to Dumbledore about what to do. Frustratingly, he did not know what to do either. All he suggested was that we wait but we can't wait. She needed us. She needed me.
Teaching was a more strenuous task than usual. My mind could not focus entirely on the lesson and frequently wandered towards how Cassandra must be doing. Her father had done a profound job in making the general public believe he was a competent and good-mannered man.
"Severus? Are you feeling alright, Severus?" a familiar voice asked as I made my way through the school's corridors.
It was Flitwick. Definitely not one who I wanted to be seeing right now.
"I am fine." It was a dubious lie but I did not dare let him know otherwise.
"I'm glad to hear it. Things certainly seem better since the ball. Ravenclaw can barely keep themselves together; I'm sure Slytherin house must be much the same. Speaking of which, have you seen Cassandra? She didn't turn up to breakfast today." he inquired, sounding much more interested in his last statement.
"Cassandra has, unfortunately, been recalled to the Ministry as of a few hours ago." I stated simply. I did not want this conversation to continue for much longer.
"She has? She didn't mention anything about it to me. That's rather disappointing, I would have liked to have said goodbye." he thought disheartened.
"There wasn't much time to begin with." I responded without much thought.
"Goodness, you make it sound like it was urgent!" He looked at me and he grasped the atmosphere of the situation. "Forgive me, but she went to you? Instead of Dumbledore?"
"It would appear that way."
"I quite liked her myself, I'll tell you, but she didn't return those feelings. I did see you two dancing together last night. Good on you, old boy." He patted my thigh and went on ahead. I had no idea that Flitwick had asked her to go with him. She chose me instead. And now she's gone.
It seems now I have two paths that I need to follow. I need to continue the investigation that had been left unsolved... and discover how to get Cassandra back home.
*****
Two Months Later
CASSANDRA'S POINT OF VIEW
...
...
...
How much longer must I submit to this? The constant checks are becoming more and more frequent. The scars on my hand from etching my signature on parchment after parchment were beginning to bleed again. I've barely slept in days. I've been stuck here for as long as I can remember. There isn't much left of me before I simply fade away. My eyes feel so dry. My head feels like it's splitting in two. Wait... what is my purpose? They insist on calling me such a peculiar name...
"Oh Cassandra, it's me." a high-pitched voice echoed from behind my door. A woman flourished in bright pink wandered in and settled by my desk.
"Miss Fudge, I really do recommend you pay attention. The Minister won't be pleased to hear that you've been slacking again." That voice... Umbridge... The Devil in pink...
I don't have the energy to respond.
"Get up. Now." The woman's voice turned incredibly sour but did not lose its cocky tone. She whipped her wand out and an agonising pain shot through me.
"Are you ready now? The Minister needs you to review these papers. Do it now. I will be back shortly. If you haven't finished by the time I'm back..." She grabbed my hair to make me look directly into her cruel blue eyes. "then there will be consequences. Everything I do to you is the result of your own actions!" she sadistically hummed and left.
With the tiny amounts of strength I had left, I sat up in my chair and began to read the legislature she placed on my desk. The words hardly made sense in my delirious state.
Regulations on the Use of Gillyweed
Wait... This isn't right. Gillyweed has always been able to grow there...
This is it! Partial energy and hope came within me. Umbridge is busy so this is my one chance. My mail is supposedly being monitored but I never sent anything so they may be sloppy if I send during the peak rush which should be occurring in roughly five minutes. It was now or never.
Hastily, I grabbed a piece of paper and a quill. On it, I wrote discreetly:
Crystal Lake. GW provider. Check storage. Mono.
That should be enough to give him some sort of idea. If he can figure it out then he can confront the Minister! My heart pounded deep into my ears every second waiting for the rush to begin. What if I can't get an owl? What if my mail is being intercepted?
Suddenly, a large flock of owls emerged and began to swirl around the atrium grabbing any letters and documents they could find. Opening the window of my office, I held the letter out and prayed that Umbridge would not return. Miraculously, an owl noticed and took the letter from my hand.
"Severus Snape. Go quickly. Please." I pleaded quietly. The owl understood and flew away as quickly as it had arrived.
The doorknob of my office began to turn. I collapsed back into my chair and pretended to be much in the daze I was when Umbridge left.
"I'm back." she announced evilly. "Let's see if you've managed to avoid punishment, shall we?" She picked up the documents and scanned to the bottom to where my signature should have been. "Oh dear, this isn't good at all. Looks like we'll have to resort to drastic measures, hmm?" Her voice sounded gleeful at the thought of hurting me. Once again, she revealed her wand and began to torture me.
"Sign it. Sign it and it will stop. You don't want your hands to become even more damaged, do you?" she laughed maniacally as she saw me squirm. I grabbed my quill and scratched my name on the indicated line through the pain. To her disappointment, she stopped casting the spell.
"Good. You should know what happens to those who misbehave by now, but no matter. The Minister will be very appreciative of your signature."
Please, Severus, I pray you'll understand...