The next morning Cassiopeia went to work nonetheless.
While she was teaching the first years, she felt sick yet again and went to the window, intending to get some fresh air.
She was just looking outside when, suddenly, she saw them.
There were many of them, too many.
She swallowed hard. Instantly, things clicked into place. Tom's strange behaviour the previous night. His determination to ensure she was going to stay at home.
The Death Eaters were going to attack the school.
Without thinking, Cassiopeia pulled her wand and turned to her class. "Run, all of you! Try to get away from here or find a place to hide! They are going to attack! Go!"
The students looked back at her, momentarily taken aback before her words finally sank in. Then they jumped up from their seats, and Cassiopeia followed them out of the classroom.
Her mind was racing. She had to warn the others. She went to the nearest classroom. It was Lance's.
When she opened the door and stepped inside, she was surprised to find it nearly empty. Only Lance and Ben were standing close to the desk. Cassiopeia threw them a confused glance. But before she could say anything, the door snapped shut behind her and she whirled around.
Felix was leaning with his back against the door, his wand in his hand.
"What's this about?" Cassiopeia hissed. "I came to warn you..."
"So it's true, isn't it?" Felix cut her short, his voice cold. "You and Lord Voldemort..."
"At first we couldn't believe it when they asked us to detain you, telling us you were of immense value in the battle against the Death Eaters. But the more they told us, the more everything started to make sense. Your constant refusal to help us..." Lance glared at her, his voice full of contempt.
Cassiopeia's eyes grew wide, realization dawning on her. She heard Felix move behind her and her gaze darted back to him just in time to see him taking two quick steps towards her, grabbing her left sleeve and intending to pull it up.
"Don't touch me," Cassiopeia snarled, her reflexes finally kicking in. She hadn't been spending so many years next to one of the best wizards alive without learning anything, after all. The next moment she had brandished her wand at Felix, sending him crashing into the wall behind him where he slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Lance drew his wand, intending to curse her, and Cassiopeia flicked her wand at him as well but Ben beat her to it. With a swift movement he stunned Lance.
Cassiopeia's gaze darted to Ben's eyes, a look of surprise on her face. He was looking back at her.
"It wasn't me who told them, I swear."
Cassiopeia quickly collected herself. "I know." She flicked her wand at the door and locked it. "We have to leave, somehow. The Death Eaters are about to attack, and I guess now I know why. Come on." She went to the window and opened it, looking outside.
Ben eyed her uncomprehendingly. "Can't you just disapparate?"
Cassiopeia shook her head. "If Lance and Felix were involved in this, I can't trust anyone here anymore. They surely planned ahead and put protection on the building, preventing me from simply disapparating. If I still tried it, I might end up trapped. So we'll have to leave the uncomfortable way."
She grabbed Ben's arm and pulled him over to the window. "You have to come with me, it's not safe for you here either."
Ben nodded.
"We'll just jump and slow our fall. Ready?"
Ben nodded again, and they jumped to the deafening sound of a starting battle all around them. When they reached the ground they ran away from the building as fast as they could, not looking back once.
As soon as they reached the property's borders, Cassiopeia stopped. "Do you have everything you need? Once we leave, there'll be no going back."
Ben nodded again. "I have my backpack with me. I shrank it and took it with me after.... after he visited."
"What?" Cassiopeia stopped dead in her tracks. "Who?"
"He.... Lord Voldemort," Ben whispered. "Last night I found a strange note telling me to come to the back door at three in the night if I wanted to survive. Maybe I was stupid, but I went there. Unsurprisingly, I was stunned as soon as I arrived, and when I regained consciousness I was in that small forest behind the dorms. Well, and he was there. He did this crazy mind reading thing again, only so much stronger this time. And when he was done, he just told me to be ready to leave for good. Before I could say anything, he vanished." Ben shrugged. "All of that was so crazy, but I ran back to my dorm and packed all my belongings in my backpack and shrank it and put it in my pocket."
Cassiopeia stared at Ben until the sound of an exploding curse brought her back to reality. She quickly grabbed Ben's arm and pulled him into the darkness of Apparition.
****
When Tom arrived at Houlton Manor in the morning, he had an uncanny feeling that something was off. To his dismay the manor was empty. He quickly went along the corridors, checking the rooms, before he boomed into the silence, "Dissy!"
The small house elf appeared with a loud crack and bowed.
"Where's your mistress?" Tom snarled.
"Miss is not here. Miss left for work earlier this morning." The elf eyed him, a fearful look in her huge eyes.
Without paying further attention to the elf, Tom turned on the spot.
A moment later he was standing outside the entrance doors of the grey school building. He could hear the sound of the battle that was raging inside. For an instant he sensed the faint burning of the enchantment he had put on Cassiopeia's mark but before he could concentrate on her whereabouts the burning stopped. He suppressed a frown, purposely drowning out all thoughts about what that might mean.
Drawing his wand, he pulled his hood over his head and entered the building.
Tom quickly went from one room to the next, looking for any sign of Cassiopeia. But he didn't find her.
He made his way through the hallways, trying to avoid getting engaged in any fighting, occasionally throwing a curse at anyone who was stumbling into his way. When he finally reached the second floor, he recognized Cassiopeia's classroom, but it, too, was empty.
He clenched his teeth and went to the next classroom. To his surprise the door was locked. He pointed his wand at it and unlocked it before kicking the door open.
There were two wizards lying in the room. They were still alive. Their chests were rising and falling feebly. Tom scanned the room, noticing that the window was ajar. He felt his breath quicken slightly when he turned to the wizard closest to him, who lay hunched over the desk. He pointed his wand at him and entered his mind.
It didn't take him much effort to find the memory of Cassiopeia and Ben fighting against the two men. Tom's lip twitched just the slightest bit.
With a few quick strides he went to the window and looked down. This had to be how they had escaped. He turned back to the two men, flicking his wand at each of them with a sneer on his lips, before disapparating from the classroom.
******
Cassiopeia and Ben reappeared close to Houlton Manor. Cassiopeia scanned the surroundings carefully.
"Obviously they have not yet realized that I got away," she whispered. "Come on, we have to hurry, I don't know how long we have before they're going to show up here."
She ran to the entrance doors, Ben following her closely. When they stepped into the hall, Dissy appeared out of thin air.
"Miss missed his lordship," she stated.
"He was here?" Cassiopeia shot the elf a surprised glance.
"He left shortly ago."
Cassiopeia bit her lip. "I have to leave, Dissy. Someone's after me. I won't tell you where I'm going, so that you're not going to get into trouble. But if he returns, please tell him, I'm sorry."
The elf nodded.
Cassiopeia pulled her wand and summoned various things, stowing them in a magically extended bag.
When she was finished, she held out her arm for Ben, and the moment he touched her, she apparated them away.
****
Tom returned to Houlton Manor only to find the elf waiting in the hall.
Before Dissy could say anything, he asked, "Where is she?"
"Miss is gone."
"Where?" Tom furrowed his brows.
"Miss says Dissy better not knows so Dissy isn't in trouble." The elf hovered uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Miss says Dissy must tell you... miss is sorry."
Tom stared at the tiny house elf, trying to grasp what she was saying.
He clenched his jaw. So this was it. This was how it was going to end.
Cassiopeia had left.
Without anyone having to tell him, he knew she wasn't intending to return. And she had made sure there was no way he could find her if she didn't want him to.
Unconsciously, he waited for the familiar hatred and fury to set in, but surprisingly nothing happened. He felt only empty.
Why had she left? Why had she thought there were no other way? Why hadn't she come to him? He would have protected her, he would have made sure she stayed safe.
He slowly pulled his wand from his robes. He definitely didn't like her decision. But somewhere deep inside he knew that, in the end, her safety was all that mattered.
So if she had chosen to leave, intending to escape this war, he was at least going to give her the best protection he could. He would do what he was best at, what everyone would instantly believe, what it took to end her being of any interest to the revolutionary movement.
He turned to Dissy. "You had better go somewhere else. Things won't be too pleasant up here for a while."
The elf looked at him with wide eyes, before nodding and disappearing with another loud crack.
Tom tightened his grip around his wand. Then he brandished it swiftly at the interior of the mansion, muttering under his breath while slowly retreating to the door.
He left the house and walked a few feet away before turning back. He waved his wand at the building, making sure he had successfully preserved the interior so that it would only appear to be permanently damaged by the curse he intended to cast.
Then he threw a last glance at the manor he had spent so much time in, and with another swift movement of his wand he set the building on fire.
He watched the flames grow larger and shoot up into the air, his eyes expressionless. Any onlooker would believe they had burned the manor to ruins, leaving nothing behind, not even a chance for any survivors.
A smirk spread across his face when he finally pointed his wand at the sky and hissed, "Morsmordre."
*****
Cassiopeia and Ben reappeared close to a thatched two story cottage near the coast. Cassiopeia cast Ben a sideways glance.
"Life's going to be different from now on." Her voice was calm and collected but Ben noticed a tone of sadness hidden underneath.
He eyed her curiously. "Why didn't you just go to him? He surely would have been able to offer you protection."
Cassiopeia remained silent for a long moment.
When she finally answered, her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"I'm afraid his protection would have been far too similar to imprisonment. And even though he would probably have been ready to protect me, I'm not convinced that he would have been willing to protect both of us." She absentmindedly touched her stomach, a sad smile on her lips.
*****
Author's note: So here's another chapter, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Thanks so much to all those who voted and commented! It means so much to me!!