The Great Journey North
The departure date for the Beauxbatons delegation was only two weeks away and the group of six best friends were tirelessly rifling through the storage cupboard of the library trying to find any mention of the mysterious Kiera Lighthand. They knew they were up against a strict deadline and wanted to be sure they had completed their search before they left.
On the first day of the search they had all piled into the tiny storage cupboard assuming that the search would only take them a couple of hours. The room was filled from floor to ceiling with overflowing cardboard boxes, there appeared to be no organisation to the room whatsoever. It had effectively been used as a junk room for the last 70 years at least. They utilised some old rickety desks that had been pushed up against the far wall as work benches. It soon became apparent that the task was a lot bigger than they had anticipated and the room was much too small and stuffy for them all. It had been Bonnie’s idea that they split off into groups of three, coming to do research in their free time; she had also mentioned that this gave everyone plenty of time to complete their homework (Hugo had rolled his eyes at that).
That was how Cassie, Fabian and Odette found themselves wedged between hundreds of cardboard boxes, with papers scattered all around them the night before they left for Hogwarts. Cassie’s eyes were red and irritated and her nose was stuffy from all of the dust. Huffing she threw the folder she had been reading from across the room, it hit the wall opposite and exploded in a flurry of paper. Fabian lifted his head, looking at her over the newspaper he had been flicking through and gave her a questioning look.
“We’re not getting anywhere!” she groaned, “I don’t care that Kiera was top of the class for Herbology and brewed a brilliant acne eradication potion. It doesn’t help us!”
“Cassie, we can’t expect the answer just to fall straight into our laps,” he huffed, “there will be something in here that will help us we just need to keep looking. We know she was a halfblood wizard from the biography we found in her class yearbook, we know she was intelligent from all of the awards and commendations she got. We are constantly finding out little snippets of information that help us build the bigger picture,” Fabian said sympathetically.
“I’ve also been thinking, she was arrested and sentenced to Azkaban in England. We might be able to find something out in the Hogwarts library,” Odette piped up.
“Genius, Odd!” Fabian cheered. Odette just simply shook her head a bit bashfully and began to blush.
“How many boxes have we got left?” Cassie sighed looking around the tiny room that looked as though a tornado had ripped through it.
“Just those three in the corner,” replied Odette.
“I’m nearly finished with these old newspapers, I’ll take one,” Fabian said.
“We’ll take one each, then we really must go and finish packing,” Odette said, reaching for the top box and placing it on the ancient desk in front of her. Fabian grabbed the middle box, opening the lid and shaking the contents onto the floor in front of him. That left Cassie with the last box.
Sitting crossed legged on the floor in front of the box Cassie took the lid off the box and haphazardly threw it over her shoulder. This box appeared to be full of yellowing parchment, the musty smell was so overwhelming it made Cassie’s eye water. Cautiously reaching into the box she pulled out a folder spotted with black mould and began to leaf through it. It appeared to be some kind of report dated 18th April 1976. Reading through it Cassie couldn’t hide her dismay, it detailed the slaughter of a wizard family in the Dordogne region of France. Apparently a group of armed Death Eaters had stormed the home, setting it ablaze; the family of 7 were all trapped inside and perished. Flicking back to the front of the folder Cassie read the handwritten note pinned to it- ‘I understand that the children involved in this case were students at Beauxbatons, I am very sorry for your loss.’ Continuing to look through the box she found 9 other reports, all detailing the murder or injury of a family who once attended Beauxbatons. The details in some of these reports were so horrific that it turned Cassie’s stomach.
“Odd, remind me of the dates for the first Wizarding War again,” Cassie muttered, glancing up from the horrors she was reading.
“1970 to 1981, Halloween night,” she instantly replied, looking down at the girl sitting on the floor at her feet.
“Why? Do you think you’ve found something Cass?” questioned Fabian, brushing off his trousers as he stood up and began to make his way towards her.
“Some reports sent directly to the principle of Beauxbatons from the Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France,” Cassie whispered, handing him one of the reports that was sitting in her lap.
After skim reading the contents Fabian let out a big sigh, “Good God,” he muttered. Sitting on the floor next to Cassie he grabbed the other reports she had read and discarded.
“These are awful,” he whispered, looking up at Cassie with fear clear in his eyes.
“I can’t even imagine living in a time like that, so full of terror,” she said.
Leaning forward she took the last pile of papers from the bottom of the box. The papers on top were receipts and tax return forms from the 40’s, apparently the school had been in desperate need of new duvets and tapestries. After throwing the useless documents back into the box, she looked down at the pile in front of her. Instantly all the breath left her lungs. Staring up at her from the front page of a newspaper was a grinning young man who appeared to be in his late 20’s, a giggling baby was perched precariously on his hip. She knew without a doubt that the man was her father, and the child he was so lovingly holding was her. Glancing up to the top of the page the headline read ‘Caleb Vaughn, top Auror, murdered on the steps of the Ministry.’ Letting out a small whimper she raised her hand to cover her mouth in shock. Odette and Fabian appeared to notice the change in atmosphere and looked to where she was sitting, mesmerised by the newspaper in front of her.
“Cass?” questioned Fabian, leaning slightly to look at the newspaper over her shoulder.
“It’s my Dad,” she said in a weak voice, a small devastated smile pulling at the corners of her lips.
Holding up the newspaper so that her friends could see the picture more clearly she continued, “I don’t have any pictures of him, let alone any of us together. I didn’t even remember his face,” she whispered, gently brushing a finger over the photo.
“You look like him,” Odette said, coming to kneel behind Cassie, gently rubbing her back.
“I thought so too,” Cassie chuckled. “I definitely got his hair.”
“You got his smile too,” said Fabian from beside her, “it's warm and comforting. You can tell he was an incredible guy.”
“Thank you,” she sniffled, “Do you think anyone would mind if I took this?” she questioned, looking between her friends.
“I don’t think anyone would even notice it was gone,” Fabian assured her.
Gently folding the newspaper she placed it delicately in the breast pocket of her blazer. Wiping her eyes and her nose she looked around the room sighing.
“I’m finished with my box Cass, we could go back to the dormitory if you want,” asked Odette, it was clear that she wasn’t really sure what to say or how to comfort Cassie.
“I’m finished too, come on Cass,” said Fabian, nudging her lightly with his shoulder.
“I just need to finish flicking through this pile and tidy up, then we can go. I’m alright guys, I just wasn’t expecting to find a picture of him, here of all places.” she said.
“How about we tidy up whilst you finish up?” asked Odette. Fabian immediately jumped to his feet, grabbing a random box, he began to shove random piles of paper into it, with little regard for how neatly he was packing them away. Cassie let out a little snort at the boy's antics wondering if he had packed his trunk in the same way.
Looking down at the small pile of papers in front of her, she shook her head slightly, trying to rid her mind of the thoughts about her father. Flicking through she noticed that a majority of the pile was either blank mouldy parchment or documents that had been so damaged the information they once contained was illegible. Huffing she threw them into the box. The final documents at the bottom of the file were in a black paper folder, the insignia of the Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France was embossed on the front. Great, another disturbing report she thought. Flicking the folder open she realised that this had come directly from the French Auror Department. On the first page a small picture had been glued down, it was peeling slightly at the corners. The picture showed a tall woman with a blond wavy bob, she had large green eyes lined with thick long lashes, her thin pink lips were pulled back in an ugly sneer. Cassie was sure she had never seen nor met this person in her life. Looking at the information written below the image Cassie soon realised she had been staring into the face of the Kiera Lighthand.
“I’ve finally found her,” she called out, “of course it would be the last document in the last box!”
Standing up from the floor she rushed over to one of the desks, sweeping the papers and documents that had been left there straight onto the floor she threw the file down. Both Fabian and Odette rushed over, looking at the file in front of them.
“That is not what I’d imagined she looked like,” mumbled Odette, looking at the picture closely.
“I’ve seen Trix with these files at home,” Fabian said, “They hold all the information for a current case involving an extremely dangerous wanted person, that's what the EDWP means at the top of the file,” he continued.
“It says here she was wanted for extreme war crimes against the entire wizard population,” Cassie read. Flicking the page over they found a timeline of her crimes, seemingly random acts of violence and murder committed throughout the war spanning the entire continent of Europe. Counting Cassie realised she had been wanted for the murder of 28 individuals.
“She’s pure evil,” Cassie said, tearing her eyes away from the horrors she had been reading about in the file. “This letter addressed to the principal states that they sent the entire file as a warning, they thought she might attack the school as it was a place of great significance to her.”
“Can you even imagine,” Odette muttered.
“I think we should take these files with us, we haven’t had a chance to properly look over them. They might contain more information that we’ve missed,” Fabian said, turning around he grabbed the 9 other ministry files from the floor and shoved them into his satchel. Cassie began to gather all of the papers from the black file and shoved it into Fabian’s satchell along with the others.
“We just need to pray that no one notices these are missing,” Odette said.
With a flick of her wand Cassie returned all of the stray pages to the boxes, she then levitated them, placing them one on top of the other. Once she was finished the room looked as though no one had ever entered it.
“Let’s head back, my brain hurts and I’ve still got to finish packing for tomorrow,” Cassie said, looping her arms with Fabian and Odette’s she began to drag them out of the room, leading them back towards their dormitories.
✵❂✵
Over breakfast the following morning Cassie whispered to the rest of the group that they had found something. Instantly Libby, Hugo and Bonnie lifted their heads and gave her a questioning look.
“Not here,” she mumbled. Grabbing a couple of pastries from the centre of the table she jumped up and began to walk out of the room, towards the French doors that led to the grounds. The rest of the group grabbed their bags and something for breakfast and quickly followed her out.
The group decided to head for the woods, it gave them cover from any prying eyes and if they were stuck by the stream they hoped the noise would drown out the sounds of their voices.
Cassie pulled the black file from her cream leather satchel and handed it to Bonnie without a word. Libby and Hugo both crowded around her reading the file over her shoulder.
“Well she seems like a piece of work,” Hugo eventually said, looking up from the file. Cassie, Fabian and Odette could only nod in agreement.
“I mean this is great, we’ve got a back history, a list of her crimes and what appears to be the warrants they had written up for her arrest, but I’m just not sure how this helps us.” Bonnie said carefully, not wanting to offend anyone.
“I was thinking that last night, realistically we need the transcripts from the interviews they held with her after she was captured and her trial. That would give far more information about who she was working with,” Cassie said.
“Well like Odd said last night, it might be easier to get our hands on those transcripts in England. That's where she was caught, tried and where she is currently serving time,” Fabian said.
The group all nodded, not willing to give up on their search yet.
“We should probably head back, I still can’t close my trunk and they need to be in the entrance hall by 10.30,” Libby whined.
“I’m all packed and ready to go, I can help you with your trunk,” Cassie said.
Libby looked at her with a look of relief and adoration. “My saviour,” she shouted, throwing herself at the smaller girl. Cassie wobbled for a second under the weight of the other girl before laughing and shoving her off.
“Come on drama queen, let's go and see how many sequin tops we can leave here,” Cassie joked, grabbing Libby’s wrist and pulling her back towards the school.
Stopping abruptly Cassie shouted over her shoulder, “Remember we're going to the arse crack middle of nowhere Scotland. It is going to be freezing and our uniforms are made of silk. Please pack jumpers and cardigans!”
The rest of the group looked between themselves and rushed to catch up with Cassie and Libby.
“How cold do you think it’ll be Cass?” questioned Hugo.
✵❂✵
After a lot of huffing and puffing the group of friends had managed to shut Libby’s trunk. It had taken Cassie, Bonnie, Odette and Fabian sitting on it to secure it, much to the amusement of them all. Fabian and Hugo had kindly offered to levitate the girls' trunks through the corridors and down to the entrance hall whilst the girls ran around their dormitory packing their last bits and pieces in their bags. Both Libby and Bonnie had quickly rushed to the owlery with large brown paper parcels stuffed with their spare clothes ready to send home for safe keeping. Cassie had just finished packing up her handbag with everything she may need for the journey when Odette came over and tentatively sat on Cassie’s bed.
“Hey, I just wanted to check in with you, see how you were doing,” Odette said awkwardly. She was worried about Cassie and all of the pressure the poor girl was under.
“I’m doing okay, Odd, thanks,” Cassie said quietly.
“I saw you last night, looking at the photo of your father. I remember you said that you didn’t have another one and it got me thinking. Do you want me to duplicate it?” she questioned, “Then you can have one that you carry around with you and one that you can keep safe somewhere just incase, I know how important it must be to you and how awful it would be if the original got ruined,” she rambled quickly, not knowing if she was overstepping a line.
“I would love that actually, thank you,” Cassie whispered appreciatively. She slowly pulled a large reading book out of her handbag, going to the first page she gently retrieved the picture, carefully smoothing it out and giving it to Odette nervously. The other girl took it gently, cradling the newspaper like it was a fragile newborn. Setting it on the bed she muttered an incantation under her breath and a second pristine news paper appeared beside the original. Cassie looked between the newspapers gratefully.
“I also found this in my trunk last night, it used to have a picture of Kitten McGee in it, but I thought you might want to frame the picture of your dad.” Odette said, handing Cassie a small solid silver photo frame.
Cassie couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips when Odette mentioned her family's 13 year old cat Kitten McGee.
“Are you sure Odd?” asked Cassie, her voice coming out watery and thick.
“Of course, I’ll wait for you outside,” she said kindly, leaving Cassie and throwing a small smile over her shoulder as she left the room.
Cassie looked between the two newspapers, carefully she began to fold the original up so that the article was hidden and only the picture was on display. Opening the back of the photo frame she placed it inside, once it was secure she turned it around admiring the newly framed image with a teary smile. She then gently wrapped the frame up in one of her spare jumpers, placing it safely in her handbag. Running over to their shared desk, Cassie grabbed a pair of silver scissors. She then ran back towards the bed and cut the picture from the duplicated paper, and put it between the pages of her diary. Odette had once again known exactly how to comfort her, she thought. Snatching up her over stuffed handbag and school satchel and swinging them over her shoulder Cassie rushed out of the door, startling Odette as she made her way out.
Pulling the other girl into a long appreciative hug Cassie whispered, “Thank you, what would I do without you?”
Odette pulled away from her embrace and just shook her head slightly whilst smiling at Cassie.
“You’re the strongest person I know Cassie,” she responded.
Cassie knew she was getting emotional, she could feel the tears pricking her eyes and her throat had become scratchy. Before the events of the World Cup she had never been one to get emotional, she hardly ever cried. However, over the last couple of weeks she felt as though she was always on the brink of an emotional breakdown. Since she had found the picture of her father yesterday there was also a new kind of painful emotion that seemed to be constantly simmering under the surface. It was an intense longing that was permeated with deep loss, this must be what grief felt like she supposed. Although she had been sad about the loss of her parents, it was always overshadowed by the fact that she didn’t know them, didn’t remember them. Now that she could put a face to the name she understood what had been taken away from her and what she had lost.
Shaking her head, as if it would shake away all of the emotion she looked down at her watch and gasped, realising they only had twenty minutes until they had to be lined up with the rest of the delegation in the entrance hall.
“Odd, we’ve got to go,” she practically screamed, grabbing ahold of her hand and tugging her out of the common room and into the corridor.
“We can’t be late because we decided to have an over emotional heart to heart in the hallway. I don’t think that would be an excuse Madame Maxime would accept,” laughed Odette, causing Cassie to snort out a laugh. Cassie was running full pelt through the corridors, her bags rhythmically bumping against her back as she sprinted. She was leading Odette through the halls, tugging so hard on her arm that she was convinced she would pull her shoulder from its socket. Their thundering feet and loud laughs echoed through the corridors.
They managed to reach the entrance hall in record time with a whole 10 minutes to spare. The pair came to an abrupt halt besides their friends red faced and panting. Bending over and clutching her knees dramatically Cassie vowed never to run again.
“How could you possibly nearly be late, you were already packed!” laughed Fabian, looking down at a still panting Cassie
“Odd gave me a present, I needed to make sure it was safely packed away,” responded Cassie, leaning slightly on Fabian as she tried to slow her racing heart.
Before Fabian could ask what the present was Madame Maxime came striding towards them wearing lilac robes lined with violet feathers. All of the students congregating in the entrance hall immediately stood to attention waiting for instructions from their principal.
“Line up in 3 separate lines according to your year group please, Heads of Year at the front” she barked.
Instantly the students found their places and stood in 3 straight lines. Cassie stood nervously at the front, Libby directly behind her.
“Who do you think she’s trying to impress in those robes,”Libby whispered directly in Cassie’s ear causing the girl to choke on her laughter.
Madame Maxime made her way to the front, standing directly in front of the lined up students.
“I am anticipating that we leave in the next half an hour so all instructions must be listened to and carried out swiftly. First you will need to sign in with Madame Devereux, once you have done that go and find your trunks, take them outside and place them next to the carriage, Monsieur Durand will load them into the carriage. After that you will need to go and find a seat in one of the compartments. I understand that you may be excited but horseplay will not be tolerated, I expect you to act with the utmost respect and decorum. Go,” she finished.
Fabian grabbed hold of Cassie's shoulder, “I’ll grab your trunk, you go and find us seats,” he said.
“ I can get it, don't worry,” she replied.
“Cass, I insist,” he said, doing a silly bow as he spoke, making Cassie laugh.
“At least let me take your school bag then,” she said, gently tugging it off of his shoulder.
Slowly she made her way to the front doors and down the front steps, laden down with bags. As she approached the powder blue carriage Madame Maxime called her name. Turning around nervously she made her way back towards the headteacher, dropping all of the bags at her feet.
“I’m sorry Madame, Fabian said he’d grab my trunk for me. He’s a bit weird about me doing any heavy lifting after my injuries,” said stated, her speech coming out rushed and garbled.
“That isn’t why I’ve called you over Miss Vaughn,” chuckled Madame Maxime.
“I wanted to tell you that I expect you to be the first out of the carriage alongside Mr Goodwin, you’ll be acting as our head of students for the duration of the trip. You will enter the Great Hall by my side following the upper year's grand entrance” she simply stated.
Cassie just stood there gaping at the woman.
“That is all Miss Vaughn, you had better go and find your seat,” she then said, walking away from the girl who looked to be petrified in place. Cassie had heard all about the grand entrance that the sixth and seventh years had planned, however she had no interest in being a part of it. Now knowing that she would be making an appearance beside the headmistress caused butterflies to flutter in her stomach, she knew all eyes would be on her.
Looking around she realised that people had begun to get into the immense carriage. Swearing under her breath she rushed over quickly climbing the golden steps to get inside. The carriage's interior had been decorated with plush midnight blue velvet, the carpet under her feet felt spongy and the chandelier hanging from the ceiling cast a glittering light throughout the room. The entry way that she stepped into had a shining golden staircase leading up to the compartments on the top levels, a doorway in front of her led to a corridor lined with doors to the other compartments. Cassie decided to head upstairs, hoping that one of the compartments with the large windows was still available. She headed to the front of the carriage and tentatively opened the first door on the left, peeking her head in to check it was empty. The compartment consisted of two bench like seats against either wall and a white rectangular table in the centre. Above the seats golden luggage racks had been installed to hold their personal effects. Cassie threw their school bags up onto the luggage racks and curled up in the seat closest to the window, pulling her book out of her bag she began reading.
It took another ten minutes for her friends to come piling in through the door, all laughing obnoxiously together.
“You missed it Cass! Libby’s trunk practically exploded when she set it down outside. Madame Devereux spent the last five minutes flapping around picking up Lib’s delicates from the floor,” laughed Hugo.
Cassie turned to look at a mortified Libby, who was standing blushing beet red in the doorway. Biting her lip to suppress her giggle she kindly asked the girl if she was okay.
“Am i okay?!” Libby practically screamed, “do you know how embarrassing it is to see one of your teachers holding your lacy thong?!”
Cassie lost all sense of composure at that point, loud offensive laughter echoed around the compartment. Hearing Cassie laugh so wholeheartedly made everyone else break out into fits of giggles as well. By the time they had all stopped laughing every member of the friendship group had tears streaming down their cheeks. As they calmed down they all took their seats and began to settle in, Cassie went back to reading her book, Odette pulled out a blanket and curled up ready to take a nap, Libby pulled out her makeup bag and the others pulled out a game of exploding snap. A delicate knock on the door interrupted the compartments activities, a tall boy with shoulder length caramel hair stuck his head through the door.
“We’re heading out in 2 minutes,” he informed them all.
“I’m also looking for a Miss Cassandra Vaughn. Do any of you know where I can find her?” he asked, scanning the compartment.
Cassie raised her hand slightly and smiled, “you’ve found her,” she said somewhat timidly.
“Ah, pleased to make your acquaintance Cassandra, I’m Horatio. Madame Maxime mentioned that we’d be working together as Head of Students whilst we are at Hogwarts. Shall I come and get you a couple of minutes before our arrival?” he asked.
“That would be great actually, thank you. But please call me Cassie, everyone does” she said.
“Perfect, Cassie I’ll see you in a couple of hours,” he replied before softly closing the door.
“Call me Cassie,” Hugo mimicked in a horribly shrill voice, pretending to twirl his hair around his finger.
“Oh shut it Hugo,” Cassie huffed as everyone laughed.
“Yes Head of Students,” Hugo replied, giving Cassie a quick military salute, causing their friends to laugh harder. Cassie just rolled her eyes.
“Why’s he coming to get you?” questioned Libby.
“We’re disembarking with Madame Maxime,” she replied somewhat nervously.
“Then we’ve got to get you ready! I can do makeup. Odd, I’m thinking curled hair half up half down?” Libby said, turning to the sleepy girl beside her.
“I’ll throw in a couple of braids as well, I always think they bring out her natural highlights” Odette said, yawning.
“Guys were stepping off a carriage and eating dinner, it's hardly a beauty pageant!” she laughed at the two.
“No but Operation Head Turn starts today, you need to look drop dead gorgeous for the first impression,” Libby said excitedly.
“Operation Head Turn?” asked Cassie.
“We’re showing that Ted Weasley what he missed out on all these years. If he doesn’t cry, hyperventilate or throw up, I’ll consider myself a failure,” Libby responded dramatically.
“Fred, Lib. I’m almost sure you’re getting his name wrong on purpose,” Cassie laughed, Libby just wiggled her eyebrows at the girl, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
The carriage made a quick jerk forward and for a couple of seconds it felt as though they were in freefall. Cassie held on tight to the edge of the table, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. She had forgotten in all of the excitement how much she hated the flying carriages. Within a couple of minutes the ride seemed to smooth out, a couple of small shakes were the only thing that gave away the fact that they were hurtling through the morning sky.
Cassie relaxed slightly in her seat, looking out the window she saw they were flying over the Pyrenees. Deep rocky valleys gave way to towering mountainous summits, on top of the highest mountains white crystal snow reflected the light of the late morning sun.
“And so the great journey north begins!” called Hugo, making the compartment laugh.