NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.
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Cassie P.O.V.
I sit on the floor next to the couch, clutching Katherine’s hand tightly as she sleeps. Blinking sleepily, I look up at her calm, peaceful face and wonder how the hell everything had gone so wrong.
It still doesn’t feel real. Draco brought her back to the Room of Requirement around four in the morning, holding her bridal-style while she looked…normal again. It was odd, I didn’t get angry at Draco for locking me inside the room; once he put Katherine down on the couch, I just grabbed him tight and held on for as long as I could. Draco told me that by the time he found Katherine in the castle, she was just sitting in a corner holding her head again. After fussing over him and making sure he was okay, Draco told me that he would go back out and make sure no one had gotten hurt.
It’s been three hours, and he still hasn’t come back.
I bite my lip and look over at the door to the Room of Requirement for what must be the twentieth time, praying that Draco’s just really, really making sure no one even saw Katherine last night. My head is still spinning from what happening, and I keep looking over at Katherine uneasily. Like I’m afraid she’s going to jump up and transform again.
I rub my eyes and yawn tiredly. I didn’t get any sleep last night; I spent the whole time Draco was gone pacing across the room, going out of my mind with worry. Now, the only thing keeping me awake is wondering what’s taking Draco so long.
My mind starts to wander, and my imagination starts to conjure up a list of endless, terrible possibilities. What if he’s been caught by the Carrows for being out so early? What if someone did get hurt by Katherine last night? What if Draco’s trying to save their life right now? What if—
I hear a tiny, faint sniffle to my left. I snap my head around to see that Katherine’s eyes are open, and they’re brimming with unshed tears. Sitting up and leaning closer to her, I inspect the color of her eyes cautiously. They’re blue, like normal.
Breathing a small sigh of relief, I give her hand a squeeze and ask, “How do you feel?”
Her face screws up as she tries not to cry and doesn’t answer.
As quietly as I can, I ask, “Do you remember what happened?”
The tears spill out of the corners of her eyes and make their way down her cheeks as she nods. My eyes start to water seeing her like this, so I straighten up to sit next to her on the couch and bring my other hand up to clutch hers. Katherine sits up and wraps her arms around me, and I pull her into a tight hug as she starts to cry harder. I run my fingers through her hair and whisper comfortingly, doing everything I can not to break down as well. I whisper softly, “It’s okay, Katherine. You’re okay, everything’s okay—“
“But it’s not!” she sobs, pulling away from me and looking at me with bloodshot eyes. “Nothing’s okay anymore, I’m a—a…”
Neither of us can bring ourselves to say it. I clasp her hand and choke out, “But you’re okay, no one got hurt—“
“I almost hurt someone!” Katherine cries, unable to look me in the eyes anymore. “I think I—I scratched Malfoy! How could I, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, I sorry—“
I pull her into a hug again as she dissolves into a fit of wracking sobs, unable to say anything around the lump in my throat. It’s killing me to see her like this, so upset with herself. I bite my lip as I realize I have no idea what I can possibly say to make this better.
We sit like that for a long time, me holding on to Katherine as she sobs while I try not to cry myself. I don’t know how much time passes, but eventually Katherine stops crying and just lies against me, breathing heavily and hiccupping occasionally. I rub her back comfortingly, not bringing myself to say anything.
Then Katherine breaks the silence by asking in a quiet voice, “You remember the prophecy?”
My blood runs cold at her words because no, I haven’t forgotten. The words Trelawney spoke to me earlier this year have been permanently scratched into my mind, and I still wonder about what she could have possibly meant by it. But I’m scared because I know what Katherine’s thinking.
“Someone you care for deeply will transform into evil and rein terror over Hogwarts,” Katherine recites in a shaky voice, and chills run up and down my spine as she repeats the haunting words.
She takes a deep breath and whispers, “It’s about me.”
My hearts jumps into my throat. I’d been bracing myself for her to say what I’d been praying she wouldn’t, but it doesn’t make a difference. I swallow hard and try to force out something along the lines of, ‘Don’t be ridiculous, of course it’s not about you’ or ‘The prophecy’s not meant for you, why would you ever think that’. But nothing comes out when I open my mouth.
Then Katherine gives a dull laugh, and I jump slightly. “And you know what? I thought it was about Malfoy. Malfoy. But it turned out to be me, didn’t it? And he’s the one who helpedme.”
I look at the floor then, remembering the fight we had when Katherine assumed that part of the prophecy was about Draco. I’d almost completely forgotten about it—and the whole thing seems silly now. Biting my lip, I keep quiet as she stares off at nothing, almost talking to herself now.
“What’s going to happen at the next full moon?” Katherine whispers, and it suddenly seems as though she’s forgotten I’m here. “What if I do hurt someone next time? What if someone gets killed?”
She breaks off for a moment, sniffling and wiping under her eyes. “The Dark Lord will return to Hogwarts and take away someone most precious to you.”
There’s a moment of silence, then Katherine says the words that I will never, ever forget.
“…I hope it’s me.”
It takes half a second for this to register, and then I finally snap out of it enough to grab her shoulders tight and force her to face me. I shake her slightly, looking her dead in the eye and choking out angrily, “Don’t ever say that. Do you hear me? You are not going to die, no one is. It’s just a stupid prophecy that doesn’t mean anything.”
Katherine looks up at me with tears in her eyes, her whole face pale and panicked. “I just—I can’t do this. I—I want to die—“
“Don’t say that,” I snap, fear making me angry. “Listen—no, listen. The school year ends this month. As soon as we get out, we can take you somewhere safe, somewhere you can get help. There are potions you can make to—“
“You don’t understand,” she pleads, and I stop at the weak sound of her voice. Katherine suddenly looks so broken and terrified, and seeing her like this makes me want to cry. “I’m scared. Nothing’s going to be the same ever again. I—I won’t be able to get a job, everyone’s going to be terrified of me when they find out. There’s no way I can h—have ch—children—“
Then she completely falls apart. I hold Katherine tightly as she sobs against me, knowing there’s nothing I can say. She cries into my robes and I can do nothing but hold her, my heart slowly breaking inside me.
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Katherine eventually falls asleep, and I’m just starting to doze off myself when Draco comes back.
I sit up from the floor instantly, untangling myself from the blankets as he shuts the door. Being as quiet as we can, the two of us fall into each other immediately in a tight hug. We stand there for a long time, just holding on to each other in the darkness of the Room of Requirement. Then Draco pulls back slightly and looks over at Katherine sleeping on the couch. He sounds scared as he asks quietly, “Is she okay?”
I bite my lip hard, wanting so badly to tell him everything Katherine said to me, so I can cry and ask him what to do.
But I know that’s not fair to Katherine.
“Yeah, she woke up okay,” I reply, keeping my voice down. “Everything was normal.”
Draco nods seriously, still looking Katherine over carefully to make sure. After a moment I pull away just a little and whisper urgently, “Are you okay? Did anyone get hurt?”
“I’m fine. And…not exactly, no.” When I give him the most confused look, Draco runs his hand through his hair and says, “A sixth year saw Katherine when she was out earlier. Katherine just ran past, but he saw her and freaked out. I had to go back and use a Memory charm—there was nothing else I could do, he wouldn’t calm down.”
“Oh,” I say slowly. Draco seems to be uncomfortable, and he keeps looking at me and then quickly averting his gaze. “Is that…is that it? It took you that long for a Memory charm?”
“Well…” he says uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot as though he’s got somewhere to be. “Alright, look. Before…all that happened with Katherine, I came here to tell you that I got a letter from my parents yesterday. They—they want me to come home as soon as You-Know-Who calls. And…and he just called for me while I was out looking.”
My heart drops into my stomach and I bite my lip hard. My mood had somewhat uplifted when Draco came back, but I can tell by the tone of his voice that this isn’t good. I let out a shaky breath and ask in a quiet voice, “Are you leaving now?”
He gives my hand a small squeeze and whispers, “Yeah. I just came to say goodbye.”
“Oh,” I say again, my eyes starting to fill with tears for the third time tonight. Emotion starts to make it hard to speak as I force out, “When will I see you again?”
Draco suddenly looks so sad, and I realize his eyes are starting to water. “I…I don’t know.”
The breath catches in my throat, and a few tears spill down my cheeks. The memories from months ago come flooding back, and I see that this is just like when he left me last year.
And I didn’t see him for another four months.
“Will you—will you be safe?” I choke out, already dreading the answer.
Draco presses his mouth into a thin line, then replies quietly, “I don’t know. I think—I think something’s wrong with the Dark Lord. Something’s changed. I feel like—something big is coming. But just…promise me you’ll stay safe?”
I nod, my face screwing up in the effort to keep from full-out crying. Then I can’t hold myself back and I throw my arms around him, burying my face in his neck. I hold him so tightly, like I’m afraid he’s going to be swept away by some unseen force. Draco pulls me flush against him, one hand on the back of my head and running fingers through my hair soothingly.
Then Draco winces and pulls away, and we both look down at his Dark Mark. The snake is slithering inside the skull, and a lump in my throat forms as I realize he has to leave right now.
“I have to go,” Draco says softly, putting one hand up to my cheek and rubbing a thumb across my bottom lip. We lean in and kiss each other desperately, knowing deep down that we won’t be able to see each other for a long time.
Finally, Draco backs away from me, wiping under his eyes and trying to hide the fact that he’s crying. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you. Just know that—that I love you more than anything.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I choke out, the tears falling freely down my cheeks. “I—I love you—so much.”
Then he backs away farther and I fix my gaze on him, drinking in the sight of him and trying to memorize every single detail. The broad shape of his shoulders, the bleach blonde hair, the grey eyes with specks of pure gold—
And then I realize…
Voldemort could take all that away in a single instant.
Draco turns for the door, his shoulders shaking from the effort of trying to hold himself together. I clench my hands into fists and, swallowing back my fear, call after him, “Draco.”
He stops and slowly turns to me. I’m shaking too, trying to control my anger at Voldemort, at all the Death Eaters. I take a deep breath and ask Draco something I never thought I would have had the courage to. “You have to fight them. Stay safe, but fight it.”
He knows exactly what I mean. “I will,” he chokes out.
And then he’s gone.
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Hey! Sooo I just want to put a quick note to let you guys know that after this, it's going to pretty much be all action. The next chapter is when Harry gets caught by the Snatchers and is at Malfoy Manor (I know this was supposed to happen earlier, lol but whatever) and then after that it's just the battle. There's probably like four more chapters before the epilogue :O I just wanted to let you all know that it's gonna be pretty crazy from here on out haha.
And thank you all so much for commenting and telling me what you think. That really does mean a lot, every single comment brightens my day! It's unbelievable for me because this story now has over 3 K votes...that's insane. Seriously, thank you so much. I love each and every one of you!!
I hope you'll stick with me to the end ;)