Cassiopeia was in the library of Houlton Manor, sorting books. It was late afternoon and dusk had already fallen. Cassiopeia's thoughts travelled back to the day before. Tom had tried his best to keep her from pondering why he had come to Houlton Manor but he had not quite succeeded, being a little too absentminded himself. Cassiopeia bit her lip. He was clearly up to something and it irked her that she didn't know what it was. She put the book she had been holding back on the shelf with a little more force than necessary.
Suddenly she heard someone knocking on the front door and turned to leave the library. The house elf had barely answered the door when Cassiopeia already caught the dreadfully familiar screeching voice of her visitor. She suppressed a sigh and walked to the hall.
Dismissing the house elf with a wave of her hand, Cassiopeia eyed her unbidden guest and raised an eyebrow. "Bellatrix. What makes you take the trouble to visit?"
Bellatrix looked back at her and pursed her lips. "I wanted to have a word with you."
"I can't imagine there are many things we could chat about," Cassiopeia stated drily.
"I came here to see why you still don't show the Dark Lord the appropriate respect. After all, you're bearing his mark."
Cassiopeia looked at Bellatrix and cocked her head. "I see there's a witch on a mission. It really gets to you that I have this brand carved in my skin that you're longing for so badly, doesn't it?" With slight satisfaction Cassiopeia saw an irritated gleam surfacing in Bellatrix' eyes. Obviously she had hit a nerve.
"You don't even deserve it," the younger witch spat disdainfully.
Cassiopeia quirked an eyebrow. "I may be mistaken but I think it's still up to the Dark Lord to decide who's worthy of his mark and who isn't. And for all I know he doesn't like others questioning him or his decisions."
"I'm not questioning him," Bellatrix drawled haughtily. "I'm here to stop you from skiving off your duties."
"My duties?" Cassiopeia repeated incredulously.
"If you don't fight for his cause, you don't support the Dark Lord. And you don't support what the brand stands for. But that's your duty." Bellatrix glowered at her.
For a moment Cassiopeia stared back at Bellatrix. Then she replied, her voice icy, "I think that's enough. Maybe the Dark Lord appreciates your kind of brainless support. But I certainly don't, and I don't intend to discuss this with you any longer." She walked to the door and opened it, waiting for Bellatrix to leave.
But Bellatrix obviously wasn't finished yet. She glared at Cassiopeia, suddenly drawing her wand and pointing it at Cassiopeia. "You're going to fight for him the way he deserves it...," she hissed.
"...or else what?" Cassiopeia cut her short. "You're going to curse me? Oh, now I'm scared." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. "You'd better be because I'll do it. You see, I am fighting for him." Her eyes shone with a gleam Cassiopeia knew all too well and she felt her temper flare at last.
"You have no idea what you're talking about. You have no idea of my fighting for him, or of fighting the way he deserves it for that matter," she hissed, pulling her wand from her robes as well.
Bellatrix quickly flicked her wand but Cassiopeia deflected the curse and brandished her wand in return, making the floor around Bellatrix burn with purple flames.
"Never question my loyalty ever again." Cassiopeia's voice was deadly calm, and she slowly stepped closer. "Never question my support again. And above all, never threaten me again." Her voice remained calm and even but her eyes were burning with anger. She waved her wand again, making the flames close in on Bellatrix who frantically tried to shield herself from the curse. "Rest assured I am capable of fighting, no matter what the others might say. And if you stay here so much as another minute you will witness that I am just as knowledgeable about the Dark Arts as all the others who bear this mark you're so extraordinarily keen on getting." With a swift movement Cassiopeia shoved her sleeve away, revealing the scar, and touched her skin with her wand. "And while we're already at it, what about asking the Dark Lord's opinion straight away?"
For a second Bellatrix stared at the activated mark, her eyes wide and a little disbelieving, then she hurried to the door and left the house, turning on the spot and disapparating as soon as she was outside the protective wards.
Cassiopeia's lips twitched into a smirk as she watched the now empty front yard. The frightened look in Bellatrix' eyes when she had seen the mark changing its colour had been priceless. She had been in such a hurry to leave that she had not even cared about the cursed flames she had had to pass, thus magically burning her skin and ensuring she was going to remember this visit for a while.
Cassiopeia was torn from her thoughts when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned around.
Tom was standing at the other side of the hall, a frown on his face. "Did you signal me because you needed help, cursing your own hall?" he asked sarcastically.
Cassiopeia threw a glance at the remains of the purple flames she had conjured. "No. I signalled you because I thought my visitor might want to have a chat with you. But obviously she didn't."
Tom raised an eyebrow. "Which visitor?"
"Someone who obviously thinks I don't commit myself enough to you." She shortly paused before she continued, "Clearly someone who doesn't know me at all for that matter. But then again, none of your cronies does..." Her voice trailed away as she thought about how little the Death Eaters actually knew about her, even after all those years.
Tom furrowed his brows. "Who?"
Tom's voice interrupted her train of thought and Cassiopeia looked back at him.
"Who?" Tom repeated, his voice irritated.
"It's not that hard to guess, is it? There's hardly anyone else who loves you madly enough to give a damn." Noticing the mischievous sparkle in his eyes, Cassiopeia pursed her lips and added, "And don't even think about saying that."
Tom smirked. "I wasn't going to say it. But you can't blame me for thinking it, can you? You made it a little too easy."
Cassiopeia snorted and waved her wand at the remaining flames, restoring the hall.
Tom pursed his lips and shoved his hands in his pockets. "So Bellatrix was here. What did she want?"
"I thought I'd already said that." Cassiopeia stowed her wand. "She wanted to remind me of my duties as a subservient Death Eater." Tom didn't miss the sarcasm in her voice and shot her a glance from the corner of his eye. Cassiopeia wasn't looking at him. She was busy rearranging the flowers on the table in the middle of the hall. "I know you never told them anything of us, and I didn't mind. But the older we get and the more of this spoilt new generation join your ranks the more they treat me as if I were some kind of traitor or parasite, having wormed my way into your inner circle without ever fighting for you. I never cared what the others think but it's consistently getting harder with all those new fanatics around you who haven't been at Hogwarts with us."
Tom eyed her silently. Finally he asked, "So what do you want me to do?"
Cassiopeia shrugged. "I don't really know. But I don't like them thinking I'm some stupid, brainless little whore who can't even produce a curse." She clenched her teeth.
Tom's lips twitched. "I don't think they consider you a whore. But you may be right with the rest." Cassiopeia shot him a glare and Tom shrugged. "But so what? You're neither stupid nor bad at magic. You know it, I know it. Why is it important if the others know it?"
"You didn't want the others to think you were ordinary either, did you? You wanted them to know you and your power. The advice to not care about their opinion is hardly convincing, coming from you of all people," Cassiopeia said drily.
Tom exhaled sharply. "You know, you're difficult. You want them to know you're good at the Dark Arts but you still refuse to use Dark Magic on others, even if they're my enemies." He shrugged again. "You'll have to decide what you want because obviously I can't give you both."
Cassiopeia didn't like to admit it but she knew he was right. She glanced at him. "So what if I want to fight?"
Tom eyed her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he said quietly, "Believe me, you don't want to." After a moment he added, his eyebrow quirked, "You were never ready to tear your soul for me, so it would honestly bug me if you were ready to do it for them." There was the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips but Cassiopeia could tell that he wasn't joking as much as he probably would have liked to.
A small smile spread across her face. "You're probably right, once again," she said and looked at the flowers in front of her.
Tom slowly strode over to her. When he stood next to her, she looked up at him. His eyes were gleaming darkly and he leaned closer to her. "Don't worry what they're thinking. They don't matter, only I do. And I think you're just the way you're supposed to be."
Cassiopeia felt his lips claiming hers possessively and she leaned in to him, forgetting the world around her.
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Author's note: Thanks for reading, I love your support! Please leave some comments, it's always great to know what you're thinking!!