little miss black

-13-

"Avery, I need to talk to you." Cass said, her voice trembling slightly. "Alone." She added. Avery looked up from his breakfast.

"Not now  Cassiopeia." He said.

"Yes, now." Cass said. Avery met her eye and Cass shrunk away.

"Cassiopeia I said not now." Avery said.

"I don't care. I can say this in front of your friends." Cass said, taking a deep breath.

"I'm done Avery, I'm done with you. I'm done with this stupid relationship and I'm done with the plan of arranged marriage. I'm done with being some sort of accessory to you and I am sure as hell done with being there for you at your beck and call." Avery stared at her, seemingly confused. Then his confusion turned to anger.

"Listen to me Cassiopeia, you're not done. You know the consequences for you if you call this off." He said lowly.

"Yeah, I do. And I've decided I don't care." Cass said. Averys face twisted with anger. He grabbed Cass' wrist as she turned to walk away.

"Let go of me Avery." Cass said calmly. Avery didn't let go.

"I said, let go." Cass muttered a spell and Avery jerked his hand away.

"Bitch." He muttered.

"If we're swapping insults, then you're a controlling asshole." Cass said sweetly.

"At least I'm not a slag." Avery called after her.
Cass stopped walking and turned around. Avery smirked at her. She raised her fist and punched him in the nose. Avery gasped loudly.

"Fuck off." She said, then she walked back to the Gryffindor table.

"Sirius, I think that Cass just broke up with Avery." James said distractedly watching her walk over.

"What makes you say that?" Sirius said, his mouth full of cereal.

"The fact she just punched Avery in the face, and the fact she's heading this way now."

"Sirius, can I talk to you?" Cass said. Sirius stares decidedly at his bacon.

"Fine then, be that way." Cass muttered, and walked away. James nudged Sirius hard.

"What the hell dude? Last night you wanted to talk to her and now you just don't? That's so stupid." He said.

"You don't understand James, you don't have any siblings." Sirius snapped.

"Yeah, I don't. But if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't be pushing them away. Especially if it was a twin." James said. Sirius said nothing. James folded his arms waiting for a response.

"You're right." Sirius said. "But that doesn't mean I'll speak to her." James sighed.

"Okay, whatever you want."

•••

Cass was the first person to get to transfiguration, so she sat down quickly. Just then, Avery came sauntering out of McGonagall's office. Cass froze. Avery grinned at her and winked. Cass frowned. "I've already written the letter to your mother." He whispered as he walked past. Cass paled.

"Well you can fuck right off then." Sirius said from the doorway. Cass spun round.

"Now, now Sirius, wouldn't want mummy getting angry with you two. Maybe I'll add that you punched me in the face to my letter." Avery said.

"Leave him out of this Avery, this is between you and me." Cass snapped.

"What if I don't?" Avery smirked.

"You don't want to know what will happen if you don't." Cass said, twirling her wand in her finger.

"Oh Cassiopeia you're just a little girl. You have no idea what I'm capable of." Avery grinned. Cass glowered at him but he just smirked and walked out of the classroom. The rest of the class started filing in and Cass hastily turned back around and got her books out. Sirius opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. He sat in his seat beside Peter and zoned out of the lesson.

•••

Cass sighed. She hadn't had a proper conversation with anyone other than Avery in months. She headed to dinner alone and scanned the Gryffindor table for people she could sit with. She spotted Lily, Marlene, Alice and Dorcas.

"Hey guys. Is it okay if I sit here?" Cass said nervously. They all stared at her as if she'd gone mad. "Oh um it's fine I can just sit somewhere else if you want." Cass said quickly.

"No, of course you can sit here. It's just.. you're usually with Avery and even if you're not why would you ask?" Alice said.

"Well Avery and I have broken up and recently I haven't spent that much time with you guys." Cass said.

"Aw honey, are you okay? Do you need some time to get over it? Some ice cream?" Lily said. Cass snorted.

"I'm fine Lily, I broke up with him."

"Oh." Lily said.

"So anyway Lily, how's James?" Marlene asked with a smirk.

"Oh piss off." Lily laughed.

"Nah, fill me in ladies. What have I missed."

•••

The next month flew by and it was soon almost the Christmas holidays. Cass hadn't received any word from home except a small letter telling her and Sirius to come home for Christmas. Sirius and Cass still hadn't properly made up, though Sirius had stopped glaring at her. Cass didn't want then to be fighting when they went home so she cornered him after class. "Sirius, we need to talk." She said. Sirius sighed.

"Yeah. We do, but not right now."

"Then when?" Cass asked impatiently.

"I'll see you in the common room. Sorry, but I'm really hungry." Sirius said, attempting to slip past her.

"No Sirius, this is more important than your fucking stomach. Now listen and listen good, you're an asshole but that's alright because you're my brother. You haven't dealt with this situation well at all, but neither have I. We need to go home as a untitled front otherwise we're actually screwed. So can we just put this whole stupid thing behind us and go back to being friends?" Cass said. Sirius stared at her. Cass looked at him expectantly. Sirius flung his arms around his twin, engulfing her in a massive hug.

"I'm so sorry." He murmured into her shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry."