Ascendancy - Book I of the 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰

III. 27th October 1931 - the secret

"You haven't slept."

Cassiopeia's remark almost made her laugh. No, seriously ?

"And that's why you won't ask me any more questions for the rest of the day."

"What did you do?"

"I said no more questions for the rest of the day, right?"

She grabbed an apple and twirled it around in her hand without much interest. She could have taken advantage of not being hungry to eat healthily like Charis, but even so, chocolate attracted her more than fruit. Her sister was really weird. As she poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice, she felt her cousin's gaze burn her. Yet she paid no attention to it. All Callidora wanted to do right now was to crawl under the sheets and sleep for the next hundred years.

"We're going to Hogsmeade today," her cousin announced in a white voice."

The pumpkin juice went down the wrong side of her throat. Callidora choked and coughed several times.

"No way," she replied once she had recovered. "You want to kill me, right?"

"Pollux will be there, I want to see him. And you're coming with me."

"What happens if I refuse?"

"It wasn't a question."

Callidora grimaced. She watched her get up and leave with all the hate in the world. Cassiopeia suspected that something had happened, but she didn't like to ask first. She didn't like not being kept informed either. A very tiring girl. Callidora yawned until her jaw dropped. Charis passed by at that moment and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Did you sleep well, big sister?"

"Wonderfully well," she ironically said.

And to think that now she had to get ready to go to Hogsmeade, choose her clothes, put them on, do her hair, fix herself up, get...

"Pollux is in Hogsmeade today, don't you want to go with Cassiopeia instead of me?"

"I'm a second year student, remember?"

Bloody rules. Cedrella had to study for her future exams, and Dorea was even younger, so it was impossible to get her out of Hogwarts. Why hadn't she been able to fall asleep after Longbottom's feverish kiss? After all, it was just a kiss, wasn't it? No need to make a big deal of it.

Except that was the problem. Callidora was a thought bomb. One event, and everything exploded.

Reluctantly, she left the Great Hall and shuffled to her room. Without putting any effort into her outfit, she put on the first dress she could find, her Slytherin cloak, her green and silver scarf and a newly purchased hat. When Cassiopeia saw her arrive in the Common Room, she raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? You had nothing else to wear?"

"Be glad I'm going with you."

She still didn't understand why she was doing it, by the way. On the path, Callidora was surprised by the temperature and took off her scarf. The silence between them made her uncomfortable. Her fingers found a thread to abuse and played with it. Finally, Cassiopeia opened her mouth.

"What happened last night?"

"I went out."

Lying wouldn't do any good with her. Cassiopeia was good at Legilimency. Too good to play games with.

"Let me guess, you saw him and kissed him ?"

"You read my mind?"

She had stopped in shock. Cassiopeia sighed in exasperation and faced her.