little miss black

-6-

Cassiopeia hugged Lily, Marlene and Dorcas goodbye, and then gave James a quick hug. "See you guys in three weeks!" James grinned.

"Bye." Cass murmured and turned towards Poppy and Alice.

"Poppy, why is Lily going home and your not?" Alice asked.

"My sister Petunia and I don't get on very well. She's never really liked me and when Lily and I found out we were witches, that was the final straw." Poppy explained. The two girls nodded.

"Oi Cass!" Sirius yelled from across the common room.

"What?" Cass called back. "You up for a snowball fight?"

•••

Ten minutes later, Cass, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Poppy, Alice and Sebastian were outside. "Girls against boys?" Peter asked.

"That's hardly fair." Sirius said.

"Oh? Why not?" Cass quirked an eyebrow.

"Because boys are better." Sirius said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I think that's a challenge." Poppy said, folding her arms.

"Ten minutes to get ready starting... Now!" Sebastian yelled. The girls ran left and the boys right. Poppy took charge.

"Alice, you're on shelter building, Cass get started on the snowballs, I'm going to check out the competition." Poppy smirked. Cass and Alice mock saluted and got to work. Poppy did a few army rolls and made it over to the boys 'base'. They were all discussing in hushed tones. Poppy rolled a snowball and threw it directly at Sebastian, then she ducked behind a tree. "Ow!" He yelled.

"What happened?"

"I got hit with a snowball."

"We've been invaded, go, go, go!"  Poppy ran back towards the girls.

"Quick they're coming let's go!" She said.

"Come on then." Cass yelled. Poppy stared at the huge pile of snowballs and the amazingly crafted snow fort that the two girls had managed to create . "What? We are witches you know." Cass smirked. Poppy gaped at her but picked up a snowball and armed herself for battle.

Two hours and a lot of snow later, the fight was over. They had declared a draw because they were all tired and wet. They showered and then went down to the great hall for lunch. They ate quickly and then ran back to the common room. The spent the afternoon playing wizards games such as wizard chess and exploding snap.

•••

The next day, Sirius spotted his mother's owl flying in. He nudged Cassiopeia and she looked up nervously. The owl flew down, dropped the howler in its beak and flew away again. With trembling hands, Cass picked it up. Sirius pulled her arm and they ran off to the nearest bathroom. It was a girls so they hid in a stall. "Can you open it?" Cass murmured. Sirius nodded and opened it.

"CASSIOPEIA WALBURGA BLACK AND SIRIUS ORION BLACK, HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE OUR FAMILY BY NOT COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. YOUR AUNT DRUELLA POINTED IT OUT, QUITE HARSHLY, THAT YOU TWO WERE IN GRYFFINDOR AND HADN'T COME HOME. I AM FURIOUS. THE THINGS NARCISSA HAS INFORMED ME ARE DISGRACEFUL. YOU BETTER CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE BEFORE YOU COME HOME. ESPECIALLY YOU CASSIOPEIA." The howler finished and erupted into flames. Cass sank down the cubicle wall and closed her eyes. Sirius was still shaking.

"What did she mean, especially you Cass?" He asked quietly.

"Do you remember that day Narcissa came up to us?" Cass whispered. Sirius nodded slowly. "And then I left the hall?" Sirius nodded again. "Well I went to the astronomy tower. And Narcissa came in and told me she had been orders from Mum." Cass gulped. "She said that she had to keep and eye on me, but she'd been watching you too. She said that I wasn't too bad but you... you were going to get in a lot of trouble. So I told her that if she said anything about you, I'd spill something that she did. I told her to make something up about me and leave you out of it." She finished. "Oh." Sirius said. Cass wiped a few stray tears from her face and stood up. Sirius hugged her tightly.

"Thank you." He murmured. Cass nodded. She unlocked the cubicle and checked if anybody was there. No one was, so she and Sirius left the bathroom. They made their way to the common room where the others were waiting.

•••

The great hall was as loud as it normally was, but to Cass it seemed even louder. She felt like something bad was going to happen soon. She picked at her spaghetti. Sirius glanced at her and furrowed his eyebrows. Cass shrugged at him. There was suddenly a sound of shrieking coming from the entrance hall. Cass froze and listened intently to the noise. Sirius went stiff beside her. McGonagalls seat was empty.

"That sounds like..." Cass couldn't bear to say it. Sirius nodded grimly. "We should check." She murmured.

"No need." Sirius said, turning towards the door that had just been flung open. Walburga Black entered calmly. You would never have thought that it was her screaming in the hallway.

"Sirius, Cassiopeia, lets go. There's been a change of plans." Walburga said, the hidden undertone of a threat could just be heard. Cass paled.

"Yes mother." She whispered.

"Of course Mother." Sirius said. The twins stood up and followed their mother out of the great hall. Professor McGonagall stood with her arms folded in front of the doors leading out of the castle.

"You are not permitted to take these children any further." She said firmly. Walburga laughed.

"I am their mother, they are in my care. Get out of the way please Professor." McGonagall hesitated.

"Excuse us please Professor." Cass said politely. Professor McGonagall moved aside with a sigh and went back into the great hall. Walburga led the twins out of the Hogwarts grounds. She grasped their arms firmly and apparated them back to Grimmauld Place.

Walburga opened the door and shoved them inside. "Go to your room." She said. "I'll deal with you later." Cass and Sirius didn't argue, they went straight upstairs and slammed the bedroom door close. They looked at each other worriedly.

"We're screwed."