You found me
The entire night Cassie had been tossing and turning in her bed, her mind wandering and sleep seemed like an impossible task. She truly wished that there would have been a button that you could press whenever you would go to sleep so that way your mind would just go completely blank, and all the things you would have thought of earlier that day would just disappear. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the familiar pattern of the tattoo, or rather the Dark mark as it's called. She had halfway thought of sending a letter to Sirius about what she saw but decided against it in case the letter somehow got into the wrong hands. If it did, they would know she wasn't as drunk as she had claimed to be and that she knew who those people in the kitchen were. Deatheaters.
Cassie turned on her right side and caught a glimpse of her alarm clock that she had taken with her from Hogwarts. 04.51 am. This is ridiculous, she thought, rubbing her eyes gently. Utterly completely ridiculous. She lifted the comforter from her body as she sat up. Her feet moved across the cold floor as she reached the window, letting her fingers move the curtain just a few centimeters so the view of the outside was visible. Making the curtain fall back in place, she moved to the wardrobe and pulled out her black and white knitted sweater, along with a pair of warm pants. She grabbed a knitted hat as well as mittens and made her way out of the room as quietly as she could manage.
The hallway was dark, and as she passed her parent's room, a faint sound of snoring could be heard, making Cassie bite down hard on her lower lip to keep herself from snickering. She treaded lightly down the stairs, stopping once in a while as the old floorboards creaked from the pressure. When finally reaching the last step, Cassie let out a deep breath as her feet touched the first floor. After a quick trip to the kitchens, she pulled on her coat and scarf, along with her knitted hat and mittens, before she quietly opened the door and left the house.
As Cassie moved through the garden, a few lamps lighted up when she passed them, making it easier for her to see where she was going. After passing the statue of the woman she had seen on her first day, she continued down the path, passing the peacock as well. Along the way, there were a few other statues that she hadn't noticed the last time she was there, such as statues of several females and animals. It seemed like Cerys was quiet the garden lady.
By the end of the garden, a familiar forest path appeared before her. Her eyes were almost glued to the ground as she walked, making sure to avoid anything that would make her trip and fall. As she reached the familiar piece of wood that was sticking up, a soft smile covered her face as she proceeded to step over it and continue on her way. When she had reached the clearing, Cassie was rather thankful she had been smart enough to wear her winter boots instead of anything else, or her toes would have been soaked.
While lifting her gaze from the ground, Cassie was met by a sight that made her steps halter. There, in the middle of the clearing, was a green spot, a spot of grass. Though everything else was white, that particular spot didn't have any form of snow on it, and as she got closer, she understood why. In the middle of the green spot laid a blanket along with a person.
"Aren't you cold?" She said softly as she neared the person on the ground, who was looking up at the stars.
"I put a spell on the ground to keep the snow from sticking. Besides, it helps with the several blankets." Rabastan turned his eyes towards Cassie as he spoke. He scooted a bit to the left as he lifted the blanket. "Join me?"
As she looked down at him, bundled up in several blankets, with his slightly messy hair, she couldn't help but smile softly as she put her satchel on the ground. Cassie sat down beside him before she laid back, letting her eyes meet the several shining lights painted across the clear sky. She didn't know if it was magic or not, but somehow as she watched the stars, she almost felt captivated by their beauty.
"Wow.." she breathed out. "I can understand why you used to sneak out here. It's beautiful."
"It is. I never quite figured out how, but there's just something about the stars that calms me." His eyes studied the lights in the sky until he turned them to the girl next to him. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Mhm." she nodded absentmindedly. "Something like that."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked curiously.
She weighed the option in her mind for a minute, should she tell him, or should she not. Maybe what she saw hadn't been exactly what happened. Thinking back, the only one with the dark mark visible had been Dolohov, and for the moment, she didn't feel one bit sorry for bumping into him on the dance floor. For all she knew, Dolohov could have tried to recruit the others, and as much as she wanted to believe that because it sounded better than the alternative, she knew that wasn't the case. It would explain a lot. It would explain too much. And she wasn't sure if she wanted to open that box. Or if she was ready to, considering what it would mean.
"Not really." Cassie finally said, "What about you?" she turned her head towards him. "Couldn't sleep either?"
"I think I perhaps drank a bit too much last night. I kept having to go to the bathroom, so sleep didn't really come that easily." He lied smoothly. In fact, he too had been tossing and turning for hours, as the conversation he had with his brother played over and over in his head with no sign of stopping. Rabastan had hoped that going back to the ball with Cassie would distract him enough so the thoughts would leave his mind, and they did, up until the moment he was laying in his bed staring at the ceiling.
"Well, I'm not surprised. Pretty sure you practically swallowed half the bowl of eggnog," Cassie said, making him chuckle.
"What can I say? It's Christmas." He retorted, making the younger girl roll her eyes.
For a while, silence lingered between the two as they laid side by side staring up at the starry sky, happy to have something other than their recurring thoughts running through their minds.
"What's your favorite color?"
Cassie slowly turned her head towards Rabastan, whose eyes lingered at the stars. "Really?" she chuckled. "you want to know my favorite color?"
"Is that so bad?" he asked curiously while moving his gaze, meeting hers.
She laughed softly as she turned her head though she tried to ignore the intense feeling of his lingering stare and focus instead on the stars above. Hearing the soft sigh that escaped his lips caused Cassie to bit down hard on hers to hide the small grin. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't even know his favorite color or his favorite food, or even his favorite book, and suddenly his out of the blue question didn't seem so ridiculous anymore.
His eyes lingered at her face, taking notice of how her smile slipped slowly from her face as she turned to the stars, her dark brows furred slightly as she nibbled her lower lip. Rabastan sighed and couldn't help but feel rather frustrated at himself for even asking her.
"Red."
Her voice appeared so sudden that he wasn't quite sure if he had heard her at all. "What?" He lifted himself slightly up on his elbows, his eyes never leaving her face.
"My favorite color. It's red."
"Red.." he mumbled softly to himself as he laid back down, and as the word left him, his lips tugged upwards in a small, almost proud smile.
Cassie turned her head when she no longer felt his gaze on her, only to see that he was gazing rather happily up at the sky. "What about you? What's your favorite color?" she asked quietly.
"Brown." He simply said as he turned his head and locked eyes with her. "Not like dirt, but warm, almost like chocolate, just a bit darker."
The two gazed at each other for a moment, and just as Rabastan was about to open his mouth again, a swift gust of cool wind blew over them, causing shivers to appear all over Cassie's body. She had already started to feel the coldness seeping into her even though she was packed underneath at least four blankets, but the gust of wind, a rather cold gust of wind, brought a whole new definition to the meaning of being cold.
"Are you cold?"
"it's no big deal." She muttered through her clacking teeth.
Rabastan fought the urge to roll his eyes as he heard her. "Come here." he lifted his arm, making room for her next to him.
Cassie furred her brows slightly as she gazed at the boy uncertainly before she scooted closer to the boy, curling up next to him as she placed her head on his chest and felt his strong arm wrap protectively against her smaller frame. Her teeth continued clacking for a few moments, before the heat of the several blankets, along with the boy she was snuggled up to, started to fill her body, making the sound cease.
"Look, there's Sirius," Rabastan said, making Cassie turn her head slightly as her eyes followed his finger as he pointed to a star in the sky.
She laid with her eyes searching for a moment before a small smile filled her face as she spotted the star her older brother was named after. As her eyes drifted further away from the star, she passed Orion and Perseus before she saw her own.
"There's Cassiopeia." Her voice was filled with a small amount of pride in the fact that she had managed to find it. Seeing it in real life in the night sky was something entirely different from seeing it on paper or in one of her astronomy books.
"Where?" Rabastan's eyes searched the stars, but no matter what, he still didn't find the constellation named after the girl beside him.
Cassie moved her gaze from the constellation to the boy. She bit her lower lip as she noticed that his eyes were set in a totally different direction than the one she had been previously staring in. As his eyes were busy searching the skies, she lifted the blankets slightly, seeing his left arm resting on the lower part of his abdomen. Gently she placed her hand on top of his, causing the boy to freeze and slowly move his eyes downwards to the girl on his chest.
Cassie lifted his hand out of the blanket and raised it towards the sky. Her fingers moved to his as she turned her hand, so her palm almost touched his and then moved three of his fingers, save the thumb and his index finger, down, and relocated his hand, so he was pointing towards the constellation.
"There.. you found me." Her voice was quiet, almost like a whisper. And she was thankful for both the dark and the way she was lying, seeing as he wasn't able to see her flaming cheeks.
As his eyes caught sight of the constellation his finger was pointing towards, he felt his chest tighten, and suddenly he couldn't breathe. Whether it was the beautiful sight of the stars or the delicate fingers wrapped around his, he wasn't sure, but if he had to guess, it was a mixture of the both.
"I found you." Rabastan lowered their hands, resting them on top of the blankets, as he took a breath and gently intertwined their fingers.
For a moment, Cassie wasn't sure if she should retract her hand and pretend nothing happened or just let it stay there, as she continued to lay under the stars holding hands with a man set to be her husband. Though as she felt his thumb, sending soft strokes on her own, any resolve or thoughts she had disappeared, as she took comfort that her mind was currently being occupied by something immensely different than the thoughts that had been on her mind for the last hours. And for the first time since yesterday, with her cheek pressed against his chest and their fingers intertwined, a calmness she had never felt before sneaked up on her, and she fell asleep.
How it happened, she didn't know. But somehow, Cassie had woken up in her bed a few hours later. At first, she had thought that it had all been a dream, but the sight of her maroon coat hanging on her chair along with her winter boots standing by a burning fireplace was enough to make her forget those thoughts.
Sitting in her bed, her eyes moved down to her right hand, the one that not too many hours ago had been holding the hand of the boy just across the hall. She studied it for a moment, closing it as if testing to see if she was still able to feel his fingers in hers. Cassie was strangely disappointed when she opened it, and all she could feel was the same emptiness that had filled her hand for the last seventeen years of her life.
In a way, she almost wanted to slap herself for the thoughts running around in her mind, but another part, a part so small that she truly didn't notice, was glad for the distraction, seeing as the distraction had managed something she alone hadn't. Namely made her fall asleep.
There was a slight heaviness to her head, though if it was because she had been lying outside on the ground during winter or if it was the glasses of Blue Delight she had drowned last night, she wasn't quite sure. But one thing she did know was that today, she would not be doing anything remotely exhausting. She had plans. Big plans. That involved a warm cup of hot chocolate, her bed, and either a book or her knitting supplies.
As Cassie made her way down for some breakfast, she passed the closed door to the parlor and leaned her ear slightly closer, catching the sounds of someone speaking, though they were most likely a fair distance from the door, seeing as she couldn't make out any of the words. Entering the kitchen, she breathed out in relief, noticing that she was alone. Uncertain of just how long that luxury would last, she wolfed down her breakfast and grabbed an apple or two in case she got hungry later on and returned rather quickly back up to her room.
Some might have thought it was boring, but Cassie relished in the days she could stay cooped up in her room, especially when she was at home. The disappointed stares she would receive from her mother whenever the older woman thought the younger girl was too busy or too distracted to notice, along with her father's indifference to her, was a bit more painful than she would lead on. It hadn't always been like that. One time the two had looked upon their only daughter with pride and love in their eyes. Still, times change. She did, however, consider herself lucky, as opposed to Sirius. She had gotten the long end of the stick, though had it not been for Regulus, she too would have left.
The thought of her brother made her immediately make way towards her desk when she returned to her room, and a quill and piece of parchment made their way to her hands the moment she sat down in her chair.
Dear Sirius,
I don't mean to enlarge your ego when I say this, but I miss you terribly. It's not the same without you. Regulus helps, but.. well, you know. It must be a twin thing or something.
It hasn't been all that bad though, Bellatrix and Rodolphus are hardly here, and mother, as well as Cerys, have been too busy planning the Christmas party than to torture me as much as they would have liked. Though speaking of torturing, they are taking me dress shopping for the wedding tomorrow, and can you imagine; they suggested that I should ask Bellatrix to come with us. The moment they mentioned her name, the only thing that filled my head was your expression of her a few weeks back, along with thoughts of something of the sort, over my dead body.
Though thankfully, Rabastan and I are leaving here on Tuesday. And before you ask, or well rather write, I don't know where we're going. I've tried asking him, but all I end up with is it's not a surprise if you know, is it? Andare you really that impatient? And then he smiles and looks at me like I'm the most amusing person he's seen all day.
Anyway, how is it going with you? I hope you haven't tried to burn down the Potter manor with another one of your attempts to bake. Remember the last time? You were lucky enough that James kept his cool as well as his wand with him. How is James, by the way? Any news from Peter and Remus?"
I miss you all, and I can't wait until I get to see you again.
Love, Cassie.
After rereading her letter, Cassie folded the parchment, put it in an envelope, and sealed it with wax. She couldn't help, or rather she didn't even try to hide the mischievous grin that blossomed on her face as her eyes lingered on the Lestrange crest pressed into the wax. Though she knew Sirius wasn't that daft, she did hope that the crest on the back would frighten him a little, making him think he received a letter from Rodolphus or Bellatrix, though he'd probably just assume that it was Rabastan or her.
Cassie turned the envelope and wrote her brother's name elegantly on the front.
"Hey, Sweetie." The girl cooed as she let her fingers stroke the white feathers of Nova. "Could you send this to my brother Sirius?"
The owl let out small affirmative sounds as if to answer Cassie.
"I knew I could count on you." Cassie smiled at her friend before opening the windows and let Nova be on her way. For a moment, she sat there watching as the sight of her owl grew fainter until she disappeared completely. A gentle shiver filled her as a draft of cold wind hit her in the face.
"Bloody hell, it's cold," Cassie muttered as she quickly closed the window to keep the cold from coming in. Eyeing the empty cup she had brought with her earlier that day, she found her wand and muttered a quick spell, watching as a hot brown liquid started to fill the cup. A sigh of delight filled the room as she embraced the warmth in her hands while she raised the cup to her lips.
"Mmm.." She relished in the comforting taste that spread warmth over her entire body as she continued to carefully drown her hot chocolate while burying herself in a book she had been reading earlier. With each page she read, the more the world around her seemed to fade, and all thoughts were replaced as she entered a new world that was entirely her own.