arcane | j.potter

chapter four

Surprisingly, Cassiopeia had had a good day. After being let off with a warning, Cassiopeia breezed through transfigurations as well as her other classes, bringing her to tiredly sit down in the common room that night.

A few of her dorm-mates had braved talking to her to which she responded politely. They were nice enough girls but nobody Cassiopeia deemed worthy of investing time in. The only connections she planned on securing now were ones that would gain her power. But still, politeness is easy and they were kind enough to her so it would be imprudent to be dismissive.

"So, my little Cassiopeia, how was your first day?" Barty asked her as he sat beside her, slinging his arm around her shoulders and she brushed him away.

"Satisfactory enough. Not too many... inspiring characters, shall we say. But I think my time here will be beneficial." Cassiopeia replied, relaxing back into the sofa as the common room finally emptied.

"Do you ever do things just for fun? That sounded like a summary of a business meeting." Barty joked as Cassiopeia glared his way.

"Life is a game of business, the connections I make now will benefit me in the future. Why would I waste my time with small talk or polite chatter when there are more important conversations to be had? But to answer your question, yes, I do things for fun."

"Like what?" Evan asked as Barty began to play with the rings on his fingers, distracting him instantly.

"I like drawing. There, end of discussion. Moving on. I heard through the grapevine that Lucius Malfoy is holding a meeting here tonight with some other Slytherins. Any chance we can sneak in?" Cassiopeia asked.

"I want to hear more about your-" Barty cut himself off at Cassiopeia's glare. "Okay- chances are slim. But don't you still have that cloak of Potter's? Just use that."

"Genius."

The hours passed in a blur and suddenly it was one AM and Cassiopeia was under the safety net of James' invisibility cloak listening with bated breath as Lucius Malfoy led a group in dark discussions.

"Now, as we know the Dark Lord wishes for us to be subtle in our quest for new recruits. We are not to approach anyone outright. We are to merely find out their stance on the war - whether they are on the right side or not. You are then to take this information back to me and I will personally deliver it back to the Dark Lord."

"What? So you can take credit for our scouting! No way! I'll tell him myself." A boy Cassiopeia knew to be Mulciber complained as Lucius' face turned sour.

"And will you do that? You idiotic fool. You have no direct line to the Dark Lord. I do. Do not forget your rank soldier. Does anybody else wish to complain? No? Good. Meeting dismissed."

Cassiopeia couldn't help but feel disappointed, she was hoping for more useful information but it was only the first meeting, she shouldn't have expected so much. Expectations lead to disappointment and disappointment leads to emotions that are not becoming of a young lady.

Of course, the mighty Dark Lord was planning on recruiting children. She was certain that when the time came, Dumbledore, who was presumably leading the opposition, would do the same. Those in power always hid themselves behind helpless foot soldiers, it was an age old tale that wasn't likely to change anytime soon.

Sighing, Cassiopeia took herself to her room and carefully tucked the cloak in the bottom of her draw, pausing briefly as she caught a hold of a comforting scent. Holding the cloak closer to her face she inhaled, smelling a mixture of cinnamon and vanilla. Snapping out of her daze, she resumed her task of hiding the cloak as she shook the thoughts of how it smelt of James out of her head. He was not someone she should be thinking about ever, let alone at such a late hour.