little miss black

-69-

There was a rather tense atmosphere at Grimmauld Place, every person in the house anticipating the 27th. Cass had not seen Avery at all since she'd arrived at Grimmauld and his silence was rather unnerving. He arrived early on Christmas Day, looking rather angry. He was dressed in stiff black dress robes. Cass hurried over to him. He held out his hand to stop her from coming nearer.

"I don't want your filth to touch me." He snarled. Cass' eyes widened.

"Pardon?" She asked as politely as she could.

"You have been seeing someone else." Avery spat. Cass shivered.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"You kissed someone at a Gryffindor party." Avery said, he was breathing heavily. Cass stared him down.

"I was drunk, I was confused. I thought it was you."
She lied, this preprepared story had been in the works for weeks.

"Bullshit Cassiopeia!" Avery shouted. Cass winced as he flung a chair out of the way across the room. "You're lying. How many times have I told you not to lie to me?" His face was screwed up with anger.

"I'm not lying." Cass said determinedly. Avery slapped her straight across the face and she staggered backwards.

"You filthy, ungrateful, little slut!" Avery roared, accentuating each word with another blow. Cass fell to the floor, biting back her screams. She saw Avery take out his wand and felt the room growing very fuzzy. She heard the door open.

"Oh sorry. I didn't realise people were in here." Regulas said. Avery glowered at him.

"It's fine. I was done anyway." He kicked Cass once more in the ribs and stormed out of the room. Cass was doubled over in pain.

"Here, let me help." Regulas said. "You're bound to have a broken rib." He pointed his wand at her. "Episkey."

"Thanks." Cass muttered, pushing herself into a sitting position. "Oh um Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Regulas said, giving her a small smile.

"Look Reg, hypothetically, like this is a competition hypothetical situation, would you be okay if I left?" Cass asked quietly.

"Course I would. I'm the golden boy."'Regulas said. "It's best for you Cass. I know."

"Hypothetically." Cass emphasised. "Would you help me do so?"

"I don't have a death wish." Regulas said hastily.

"Nothing major, just finding out where they have my wand." Cass said. Regulas relaxed.

"Easy, it's in Mothers pocket. Always." He said. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I would never." Cass said, hiding her smile. "For once in my life I'm going to do something incredibly smart."

•••

"Merry Christmas Padfoot my friend." James said, barging into the guest room that Sirius was staying in. It might as well have been his room at this point.

"Merry Christmas mate." Sirius said, yawning slightly. He chucked James his present- some Zonko products and a broom servicing kit. James chucked one back at him. Sirius opened it eagerly, finding a copy of quidditch through the ages and a pile of various sweets.

"It gets harder and harder to find something for you Pads." James said anxiously.

"Don't be silly, I love it. I've been after it for ages but I just never got round to getting it.." Sirius said. "I don't suppose there's been an owl for me?" James shrugged.