Little black

He finally knows

Cassandra woke up the next morning wrapped up tightly in her brothers arms, they were layed across one the dark, yellow sofas in the middle of the Huffelpuff common room and though she would never admit it to anyone else, Cass loved the Huffelpuff common room a lot more then the Gryffindor one, she loved the yellow and brown colour scheme and how cosy it was, it just gave her a small sense of comfort that she really liked.

she pushed some strands of ebony hair away from her eyes and checked the time on the little clock above the fireplace, her smile quickly dropped and panic began to set in, they only had an hour before it was time to leave for Christmas break, an hour before she had to say goodbye to all of her friends and return to hell hole that was called an orphanage for a couple of weeks.

She turned around and began to shake Cedric awake, it didn't take very long as the older boy was light sleeper. He groggily opened eyes but quickly sat up when he saw the state that his little sister was in, he pulled her into his lap and held her close to him and placed a hand on the side of her head laying it on his chest so that she could hear his heartbeat. Cedric looked around the room trying to figure out what could have caused Cassie's panic attack, when his eyes locked on the clock realisation set in and his grip on Cassie tightened. He began to stroke her and whisper sweet nothings to her.

"Come one darling, focus on my heartbeat, nothing else"

She soon calmed down and the two of them got dressed and ready for the day before making their way to the great hall for breakfast. As soon as she stepped through the doors Cass was attacked in hugs by her three favourite people, they didn't say anything and a heavy silence fell over the normally rowdy group of teens. They all knew what was going an no one wanted to speak about it so they just all sat down at the Gryffindor table, including Cedric, and began to eat their breakfast. 

This unusual behaviour caught the eye of two teachers at the staff table, the two made silent eye contact and proceeded to leave their seats and make their way over to the group of five who all lifted their heads at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Good morning students" Professor McGonagall began "what has got you all down, aren't you all excited for the Christmas holidays"

Everyone eyes flickered to Cass for a moment but other than that they gave the Professor no reaction. Lupin looked over at his daughter and his broke to see the state that she was in, he had figure what was happening.

"Miss Lupin, could I speak to you for a moment"

Cass looked at the others and they all gave her small nods so she slowly stood up, taking her fathers outstretched hand and walk with him to his office while McGonagall spoke to the rest of the group. On their way to Lupin's private quarters, he kept stealing quick glances at her but she kept her eyes firmly planted on the stone floor not having the courage to look at him, once they finally got there Lupin guided her into a wooden chair that he pulled away from the table and sat opposite her in another chair.

"Cassandra" She finally looked up and he was quick to see the sadness and fear in her unmatched eyes, it was the same look that a Sirius Black once held in his own "I need you tell what is going on"

She just shook her head, not trusting her voice. 

"Please Cassandra" He reached forward and grasped her shaking and pale hands into his own "I can't help you, if you don't talk to me"

"I c-can't" She stuttered.

"Why not sweetheart?"

Cass paused for a moment, she had been hiding all this from her father ever since she met him on the train, was it finally time to tell him? if she was being honest she didn't know if she would be able to last much longer if she carried on living the way that she was, maybe she should open up and tell him, just not everything.

"Because she will hurt me....."

"Who will?" Lupin quickly responded, desperate for answers.

"Mrs Harshaw" She said, she looked up at him and he just nodded, encouraging her to carry on "She owns the orphanage that I live in and she absolutely despises me even though I never did anything to her, she forces me to stay in the basement of the orphanage, tied to the wall with rope" It was all coming out now and Cass couldn't stop now, she had held this in for so long and the walls had finally been broken down "She feeds me small amount of food every week, just enough to keep me alive, she punches me, kicks me, slaps me, pulls my hair, whips me and once she used a knife on me, leaving a scar"

That was it, She couldn't tell him any more, or anything about the gang. She slowly lifted up her shirt and turned around so that her back was facing her father and the scar was visible. There, near the bottom of her back, was the word 'Bitch' carved jaggedly into her skin. Tears pooled in Remus's eyes as he ran a finger across the scar.

"How could someone do this to a child" He finally spoke, barely above a whisper as the tears began to stream down his cheeks.

"I was seven" She said bitterly "She was giving me a permanent reminder of what I am"  

Cass pulled her shirt back down and saw that Remus was now kneeling on the floor, unable to stand, she dropped to floor in font of him and pulled his arms around her, he latched onto her and a sob broke from his lips as he began to cry into her shoulder. She wrapped her arms his neck and just let him cry, the silent sobs from before were now the heart wrenching cries of a broken parent.

After around half an hour, Remus pulled away and held his daughters face in his hands and let a shaky smile make it's way onto his face when she reached up to wipe his tears.

"Thank you, for finally telling me about this Cassandra, I know how hard that must have been for you. I am so immensely proud of how strong and how brave you have been my little cub, but you don't have to be strong anymore, I am here now and I am never, ever gonna let you go again, you have your friends and me now and I am going to fix all of this, I promise you that Cassandra. You will be staying here for the Christmas holidays and you are never going back to that place, you and me are going to living together at my house and you will be safe an happy there, I won't ever let anything let anything like that happen to you ever again"

He pulled her in for another hug and took a deep breath, slowly calming himself down.

"I love you so much, sweetheart"

"I love you to Papa"