Fate and Destiny

Chapter 8

Cassie stared at her journal. She had written down the events of the day, but it was in a way that wasn’t incriminating should anybody find it. Reconnecting with an old friend and meeting their new friends seemed like a rather normal and not at all dangerous thing to do. In reality, it had been the meeting with Gellert and his most trusted followers, but only they would know that.

She needed time to think about what he said. Obviously, whatever base of operations he was planning on building would take some time, even with magic. If she agreed, that would give her enough time to pretend that she was going to move to America or Australia or some place like that. Cassie had decided that she would tell Albus if she agreed, writing him a letter that I wanted nothing to do with any of it and would be moving away.

Cassie wasn’t sure how to answer Gellert’s question. She did like the time she spent with him, but did she want to live with him? Back when she had been fifteen, she would have loved the idea but she had harboured a secret childish crush on him then.

All because of a few nice words, a promise to spend time with her and a flower.

What did she do?

She stood and headed to the kitchen, taking a glass out of the cupboard and getting herself a glass of water. She needed to buy more tea. Cassie set the water down on the counter and sighed.

Heinrich had given her the book on Obscurials before he had left. She could look at that to distract her for a while.

The book detailed a few years of a young boy’s life. The book said he had been born in 1671 in the winter and the mother had died during childbirth. The boy had been placed at an orphanage after no father could be found. A magical couple had adopted the boy at age six after the orphanage claimed he was strange and the couple had realised it was a magical child.

The book was written by Heinrich’s ancestor, the father of the adopted boy. It detailed how sweet the boy was and how he could have easily been mistaken for a Muggle or Squib child. But when the child was angry or upset, there was a dark force that seemed to explode out of him.

It had destroyed the boy before the couple could figure out how to help him. He was eight. Obscurials were known to a few people then, according to the writer or the book. Cassie figured it had fallen from people’s minds after generations had gone by without one being widely known or causing any large amount of trouble.

She hummed as she looked back and forth through the pages of the book. It had been magically preserved though it was clear it was old as the pages were a yellowish colour and the cover of the book was rather battered. Still, Cassie could read it. It was in German but Gellert had taught her some and she had continued learning it even after that summer.

Cassie made some notes in a different journal, writing out bits of information she found particularly important or interesting. Her notes involved the damage and Obscurial could cause, what an Obscurus was. It also detailed that traumatic incidents to young magical children caused them, but Heinrich’s father theorised that the child had to be somewhat aware that it was magic that they were suppressing and many abused Muggleborns and Half-bloods didn’t become Obscurials. She wrote that down too.

It was an interesting book with a sad ending, but Cassie now believed that Gellert had said about Ariana. No doubt he could fake something like this, but she doubted he would put that much effort into tricking her, he had almost never tried to trick her over something like this, only silly things that he and Albus would joke about.

Eventually, she closed the book. She would need to return it to Heinrich soon. All of the information she had wanted to keep a record of was in her other journal.

Looking at the time, Cassie decided it was time to sleep, since she needed to be at work the next morning.