the magic in the music

IIII

"Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now that the first years have been sorted and welcomed into their new families, it is time to indulge in the wonderful feast. Eat to your heart's content, it is truly a pleasure to see all your smiling faces once more."

Cassie rolled her eyes slightly at the headmaster's welcome. She knew that this was the one and only time any of them were likely to see Albus Dumbledore for the rest of the year, for he was always too busy to engage with any of his students.

Regardless, Cassie was too hungry to pay him much more attention. She piled her plate high with meat, three types of potatoes, vegetables galore and drowned each and every item of food with spoonfuls of gravy. She'd eaten very little over the summer, as per Walburga's demand, and she was overjoyed with gratitude that she was finally able to eat enough.

Sirius was relieved to see that the constant comments and digs about Cassie's weight and appearance hadn't deterred his sister from eating. Some years, she would return to the feast unable to stomach a thing after being torn down so much over the summer, but unfortunately she'd now become so accustomed to the comments that they no longer bothered her.

From a distance, a small smile appeared on Regulus Black's face as he saw his sister laughing and eating.

"Pi, please tell me you're trying out for quidditch this year."

"Don't remind me Jamesie, you know I can't."

Cassie absolutely adored quidditch; her skills could rival any player's and she could not compare the feeling of flying through the air to anything else. Unfortunately for her, the sport was not considered 'lady-like' and her parents shared the belief that she would never be seen as a suitable wife whilst playing the boisterous sport. She was banned from trying out and absolutely banned from flying, which broke the girl's heart, but she knew that any number of Slytherins would be keen to rat her out to her parents in order to gain their favour.

"What mother and father doesn't know won't hurt them, dear sister."

"Yeah, come on Cassie! Realistically what will they do? Whatever happened to our strong independent woman who doesn't let anyone tell you what to do?"

"Sirius, don't you think I would've thought of that already? Evan Rosier is so far up father's arse, he's desperate for dirt on me to report back to him. It's not worth it, seriously. Now can we all shut up about quidditch before I turn your coffee into goblin piss. And you know I will- it's been done before."

Discussions such as these always left Cassie in a foul mood. Luckily she was so overjoyed with the return to Hogwarts that she soon forgot about everything, but it frustrated her no end when the boys tried to offer her 'solutions' to her parents' restrictions because they simply would never understand, and it made her feel as though they were undermining her problems. She loved the boys dearly and knew that they just wanted to make her happy, but there was simply no solution. What Walburga and Orion Black wanted, they got. And little did James know, they would do far worse than he could even imagine if they discovered that Cassie had gone against their wishes and attended try outs.

Although Sirius lived a similar life to her, he would never be able to understand how controlled Cassie truly was. They loosened their grip on Sirius once he was sorted into Gryffindor, instead focusing their efforts on their second son, but they had no back up plan when it came to their daughter. They had to ensure that the stubborn girl remained pristine in order to continue the Black bloodline and marry into a prestigious family.

She was a doll. A puppet of sorts- nothing but the pretty face of the Black family.

And by merlin, she hated it.