the siphon | h. potter

~fifteen~

cassandra

It was a calm Wednesday night. The sky was clear and bright, which was very convenient for the upcoming astronomy final in a few hours. 

Luckily, all of the fifth year Gryffindors were in the common room studying, so Cassandra and Harry had an entire dormitory to themselves. Harry was sitting against the headboard and Cassandra was curled against his chest, reading her notes about the planets.

"How many moons does Jupiter have again?" she asked.

"75, wait no... 79"

Extremely frustrated, Cassandra threw down her notes and stood from the bed, "I'm going to fail!" Harry put down his own book and swung his legs over the bed. "And don't you dare try and give me false hope," Cassandra glared before Harry could say anything.

Harry raised his hands with a laugh, "I would never."

"Yeah I'm sure," Cassandra rolled her eyes.

Cassandra turned away from Harry and began pacing the room. She glanced at the door to make sure it was locked. No one knew about her and Harry's kiss yet. They had agreed to keep it to themselves until they figured out what was going on between them.

On Harry's bedside table was a framed picture of his parents dancing. Cassandra picked up the picture and smiled.

"You really do look like your dad," Cassandra smiled, "same messy hair and everything."

With a sigh, Cassandra placed the photo back down on the tabletop. She turned back to Harry, but her sleeve dragged across the top of the nightstand and knocked over a small photo.

This photo wasn't framed and it was rather old. Cassandra bent over and picked it from the ground. On the opposite side of the photo was a picture of a large group of people. Cassandra's eyes found Harry's parents in the front row smiling at her. She shifted over to find Sirius with an arm across Harry's dad's shoulders. His other hand intertwined with the hand of a young woman.

Cassandra gasped and her hand flew over her mouth. Standing next to Sirius... was her mother.

"Cass, what's wrong?!" Harry exclaimed, but she didn't answer.

Her mother was young and happy, her appearance comparable to the reflection Cassandra had seen of her in the Mirror of Eraised. How was her mum in the picture? How did her mum know Sirius and Harry's parents?

"Harry... when was this picture taken?"

"Um, about two years before my parents died."

"What year?"

"It was before Neville's parents were attacked sooo... sometime in the spring of 1979."

1979. Cassandra snapped her attention back to the picture. She was born in 1979. This picture must have been taken before her mother went into hiding.

The way Cassandra's mom was leaning into Sirius and holding his hand, Cassandra guessed they weren't just friends. Cassandra thought back to Christmas when Sirius told her about James's grand serenade to Lilly. She had asked him if he ever had a girlfriend and he only said that she died.

The pieces began to click into place. Without another word, Cassandra ran from the dormitory with the picture still in hand. Once she reached the common room Ron and Hermione called out for her, but she ignored them and ran through the portrait door.

Cassandra didn't stop running until she reached Mcgonagall's office. With the fist of her hand, Cassandra began banging on the door. Moments later a very angry Mcgonagall appeared.