( chapter )
fifty-two
tw: abuse
TO ANYONE LOOKING AT THE GIRL from a distance, you wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong.
You wouldn't have noticed the small beads of sweat that littered her forehead despite the open windows letting in cold breezes of air, and despite the duvet that was around her waist.
You wouldn't have noticed the way her breathing sped up, each breath she was taking short and shallow as if there was something caught in her throat.
You wouldn't notice the way her eyes were moving quickly under her closed lids, as if they were searching for danger, as if they were trying not to look at the danger.
It was only after awhile when you began to notice that something was wrong.
When she began to shake so violently it was like someone had grabbed onto her shoulders and were pushing her back and forth at an alarming rate.
When she began to squirm under her duvet, her arms and leg getting tangled in the sheets as she tried her hardest to escape the prison which was her own mind.
They wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong, not until they realised the way her limbs were colliding with everything around her. The noise that sounded through the quiet room as wood met skin.
And the pained hiss that she let out as she woke in the morning to see the bruises left where skin had met wood.
･・･☽✥☾･・･
Cassie closed her eyes as she realised her surroundings, shaking her head as she tried to push herself up against the wall of Grimmauld Places living room.
She took in a deep breath as her back met the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest and burying her head in her knees, trying to calm the way her chest rose and fell.
The air around her seemed to thin, it was as if she was at the top of Mount Everest, and even though she was taking deep breath, no air was reaching her lungs, instead it was getting caught in her throat.
The room around her seemed to close in slowly, each wall looking as if they were growing outwards and making the space around her smaller and tighter with every passing second.
Even though she was sitting down she knew her legs were like jelly, it would be hard to keep upright if she stood up. Her hand were shaking, nothing she did would keep them still, they would keep shaking no matter what.
Cassie heard the creak of the door leading into the room, she knew what was coming, but it didn't mean she was prepared for it.
"Cassiopeia." Her fathers cold voice sliced through the thin air as easily as a knife through paper.
The girl looked up, her fathers figure blury due to the tears that were already in her eyes.
"F-father." She spoke, her voice quiet and shaking slightly as she did so.
"You know your punishment." He said, taking a step towards her, Cassie tried to push her back further against the wall.
Cassie nodded slowly, trying her hardest not to let the tears fall.
Orion nodded in satisfaction as he watched his daughter squirm under his gaze, however instead of pulling out his wand, he turned back around and faced the door.
Cassie watched, her head tilted to the side in confusion as her father walked out of the door. She could faintly hear him speak but the words he were saying were unclear, she frowned.
A few moments later the man walked back into the room, however this time, he wasn't alone.
Cassies eyes widened as she realised who was with him.
"No." She muttered as Regulus turned to look at her.
His bottom lip was burst, the blood from it pouring onto his chin and creating splodges of blood on the grey carpet of the living room. His eye was swollen shut, a black and blue bruise in the shape of a fist around it. His nose was bleeding and there was a large gash along his cheek.
Cassie couldn't help the tears that fell from her eyes as she looked up at her younger brother.
She opened her mouth to say something, however before she could get a word out, her father pointed his wand at Regulus and yelled the spell that Cassie had had used against her so many times, but she had never wanted it to be used against Regulus.
Regulus dropped to the floor, his screams filling Cassies ears as soon as the spell was said. His body began to squirm and thrash around on the floor, his limbs hitting the furniture in the room.
"STOP!" Cassie screamed, her throat dry and hoarse as she climbed onto her knees, trying her hardest to hold onto Regulus' body to stop him from hitting the furniture anymore.
"PLEASE!" The tears were streaming down her face, dropping onto the carpet, her tears seemed pointless, it wasn't going to make them stop, but she couldn't stop them from coming.
"STOP HURTING HIM!" She continued to scream, Orion looked at her, but nodded stiffly. A second later, Regulus stopped thrashing around on the floor, however, his screams didn't stop.
They were loud and long, knives piercing through the air, stabbing the girls ears.
She tried to get him to stop, whispering calming things at him, trying to comb his hair with her fingers, wiping away the blood on his chin with her thumb. Trying anything to get him to calm down. But nothing worked.
For what seemed like hours Regulus' screams filled his older sisters ears, and for what seemed like hours Cassie cried as she tried to sooth her brother.
After ages, Regulus stopped screaming, instead he looked up at Cassie. His grey eyes meeting hers.
His eyes were dull, the light that shone in them gone. It was as if a dementor had sucked his soul out. He was just a shell of his former self.
"This is your fault." He spat, looking at her and never shifting his eyes.
"N-no, no it's not." She muttered in response, ignoring the shooting pain that was in her heart as Regulus said the words.
"It is." He continued, his words dripping with venom.
"If you weren't so selfish you would have realised sooner that you're ruining everyone's lives. You're making everything a living hell for everyone."
Cassie shook her head, letting go of Regulus' body and pushing herself up against the wall once again. She placed her hands over her ears as Regulus' words seemed to become louder and louder with each passing second.
Even though he was no longer talking, his words weren't quieting down, they only became louder as she pushed her hands against her ears harder, trying to stop herself from hearing them.
"It's not true." She muttered to herself.
"It's not true." Or is it.
"It's not true." But what if it is.
"It's not true." It might be.
"It's not true." You don't know that. He could be telling the truth, how do you know?
How. Do. You. Know.
That was just it, she didn't know.
･・･☽✥☾･・･
"
Cassie." Nova shook the girl softly, trying to wake her up from the nightmare it was obvious she was having.
Her body was thrashing around in her bed, she was clawing at her face as she muttered something under her breath over and over again, but the words were so faint that Nova couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Cassie!" Nova continued to shake the girl, trying to wake her up, shaking her slightly harder.
"Cassie!" Nova shouted, not caring if she woke up the other girls in the dorm.
Cassie continued to scratch at her face, clawing at her ears, the words she was muttering under her breath were becoming louder and louder with each passing second, until she was loudly saying them.
"It's not true."
Nova shook her head as she stepped back from Cassie, the girl was now thrashing around too much. If Nova took a step forward she was bound to get hurt.
"Will you shut her up- what's wrong with her?" Nova looked over to see the outline of one of their roommates looking over at Cassie in horror, her hand pointing at the girl as she continued to thrash around in her bed, the red marks on her arms already turning into fresh bruises.
"Go get Madam Pomfrey, and Professor Slughorn." Nova yelled, waking up the other girls in the dorm who all watched in horror. Two of the girls left to find the teachers, leaving only Nova and two others with Cassie.
"What do you thinks happening?" One of the girls asked as she got up out of her bed and walked over to Nova, who only shook her head.
"I don't know, but it can't be good."
They only waited a few moments before Madam Pomfrey rushed into the room, her robe open showing her pyjamas and her hair in rollers. She had a medicine bag in her hand and rushed over to Cassies bed.
She tried to get close to Cassies mouth so that she could get the draught in her system, however Cassie continued to thrash around.
They all flinched slightly as Cassie hit the post keeping up her bed, the sound echoing throughout the room.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head as she got her wand out from her dressing gown and pointed it at the girl.
"Petrificus Totalus." Within a second Cassie had stopped moving, her arms and her legs snapped to her sides and the words she were saying stopped.
Madam Pomfrey let out a shaky breath as she walked over to Cassie, tipping half the vile of draught into hr open mouth. Cassies eyes opened for a second, staring up at the worried faces around her. Before they closed again.
Nova let out a sigh as she walked over to Cassie, frowning as she examining the bruises on her old friends arms and legs.
"M-Madam Pomfrey?" Slughorn asked as he burst into the room, he raised an eyebrow at the sight he saw, before his eyes rested on Cassie.
He nodded slightly, waving his wand in the air, a stretcher was produced beneath the girl and she was lifted into the air.
"Madam Pomfrey and I will take Miss Black to the Hospital Wing," Madam Pomfrey nodded as she walked out of the room, the stretcher following behined her.
Slughorn gave a worried glance at Cassies bed before he turned to look at the other four girls who were all staring at him, a mixture of worry and confusion on their faces.
"You four need to get some rest, I would like to talk to you all first thing tomorrow." Then Slughorn left without another word.
But none of the girls got any sleep that night, their minds were too plastered by the images of Cassie as she screamed in her bed to clear their thoughts.
･・･☽✥☾･・･
HEY, IT'S ME AGAIN
I'M SO SORRY THIS
CHAPTER IS LATE,
THERE WAS A FEW
THINGS I HAD TO DEAL
WITH AND THEN I NEEDED
SOME QUALITY FAMILY
TIME TO HELP ME,
BUT I'M FEELING
BETTER NOW <3
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS
CHAPTER, I REALLY
ENJOYED WRITING IT AND
AS I WAS WRITING IT I
CAME UP WITH SO
MANY PLANS FOR
OTHER CHAPTERS TO FOLLOW
SO THERE MAY BE A SPAM
UPDATE :O
MY POOR BBY CASSIE
I LOVE HER SO MUCH
I HOPE YOU
ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER
AND AS ALWAYS TELL
ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT AND
WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE
(:
AND UNTIL NEXT TIME
- Emily xx